The relationship of reticular basement membrane thickness to airway wall remodeling in asthma.

Assessment of airway wall remodeling in asthma is difficult in vivo. The thickness of deposited extracellular matrix proteins below the epithelium, the reticular basement membrane, can be assessed by bronchial biopsy of proximal airways. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the thickness of the reticular basement membrane in a sample equivalent to a central airway biopsy and the dimensions of the airway wall measured on transverse sections of both central and peripheral airways.