The realisation that epithelial tissues are not simply passive barriers to the adsorption of materials into internal environments has brought about an enormous growth of investigation of mucosal functions and their active and passive protective roles. Epithelia are highly organized but complex structures, subserving numerous functions, including immunological defence. The use of pharmacological tools in these systems is increasing, which is improving our understanding of epithelial immunobiology. This volume adopts a step-by-step approach, whereby each chapter builds upon the previous one, progressively adding important foundation information, culminating in a series of chapters concerning particular epithelia, including respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal and ocular. The result is a comprehensive but integrated treatise of epithelial function and its immunopharmacology, which aims to serve as an appropriate starting point at which the clinical pulmonologist and the research scientist can obtain an appreciation of some aspects of epithelial immunopharmacology as they are currently understood.
