Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The submitted paper has been written according to interesting  findings and litterature  data. I would suggest to ad a table with all hystological findings.

Author Response

Thank you for this kind comment on our entry. As you will see, we have replaced the figures in the manuscript with table-form figures depicting the finding.

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper describes very important pathological changes in lung tissue in patients with COVID-19 and is a very important result. I think it is a paper that needs to be published sufficiently to understand the lungs after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Author Response

• Thank you for your comments!

Reviewer 3 Report

Small comments and amendments only.

KEYWORDS - add 'long COVID'

INTRODUCTION  - introduce 'long COVID' syndrome formally as something to be investigated

Page 3 - peri-autopsy infection, not intra-autopsy

GROSS FINDINGS - muco-haemorrhagic fluid - spelling

Suggest replace 'veal' appearance with 'meaty appearance'. Ditto next page.

Fig 1D legend: unsectioned lung - spelling

Same page: mucormycosis being.....

Fig 7 B & C the legends are transposed wrong way round.......

Page 11. Perhaps Pulmonary hyaline membranes could have their own sub-heading (important pathology). I like the emphasis on their non-specific chronology.

Author Response

Small comments and amendments only.

KEYWORDS - add 'long COVID'

• Thank you! Keyword has been added.

INTRODUCTION  - introduce 'long COVID' syndrome formally as something to be investigated

• A statement has been added to the introductory section of the manuscript.

Page 3 - peri-autopsy infection, not intra-autopsy

• Thank you for this correction suggestion! The change has been implemented.

GROSS FINDINGS - muco-haemorrhagic fluid – spelling

• Thank you for this correction suggestion! The change has been implemented.

Suggest replace 'veal' appearance with 'meaty appearance'. Ditto next page.

• Thank you for this correction suggestion! We have replaced it with a beef meet appearance, as meat or meaty can have multiple appearances based on the readers' perception.

Fig 1D legend: unsectioned lung – spelling

• Thank you for this correction suggestion! The change has been implemented.

Same page: mucormycosis being.....

• Thank you for this correction suggestion! The change has been implemented.

Fig 7 B & C the legends are transposed wrong way round.......

• Thank you! The correction has been implemented.

Page 11. Perhaps Pulmonary hyaline membranes could have their own sub-heading (important pathology). I like the emphasis on their non-specific chronology.

• Thank you for this suggestion; we have separated PHM into its subsection and expanded it.

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors have not a section dedicated to methods of histological coloration and affinity of H&E stain to different tissue structures. What is signification of PTAH acronime ?  Histologic images are not properly explicated in the absence of arrows to indicate different structures.

You will have to clarify types of epithelial respiratory tract cells and specially of Clara cells.

Clara cells are, indeed, nonciliated epthelial, but they are not respiratory  cells !

You will have to comment about Clara cells function !

 

Author Response

The authors have not a section dedicated to methods of histological coloration and affinity of H&E stain to different tissue structures. What is signification of PTAH acronime ?  Histologic images are not properly explicated in the absence of arrows to indicate different structures.

• Dear reviewer, this is not an original article but an entry-type manuscript for the topical collection; hence no original work has been carried out. The findings depicted are based on a detailed literature review. H&E is the most routinely used histochemical stain in pathology practice and as the only stain performed on every tissue slide, we think that depicting its mechanisms and tropism would serve as a "filler" for the text and reduce the interest of the general reader. PTAH has been spelled out in full in the first instance of its use. As per the suggestion of the other reviewers and our desire to make the text more readable for a general audience, significant changes have been made to the manuscript figures.

You will have to clarify types of epithelial respiratory tract cells and specially of Clara cells.

Clara cells are, indeed, nonciliated epthelial, but they are not respiratory  cells !

You will have to comment about Clara cells function !

• Thank you for this clarification suggestion! When using respiratory epithelium designation for Clara cells, we meant it as a cell within the respiratory system, not as pseudostratified ciliated epithelium, commonly referred to as respiratory. Changes in this aspect have been made, with an expansion of the section regarding Clara cell function and role within normal tissue and pathology.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

This version of the paper  should be accepted

Author Response

Thank you for this kind comment on our entry.

Reviewer 3 Report

The changes in v2 are satisfactory

One typo: spelling in the headline 3.1 - 'particular'

Author Response

• Thank you for this correction suggestion. We have changed the principal bronchi to large bronchi, as we believe the suggested correction was towards this statement.

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors answered to questions which I signaled  and I wanted additional commentary.

Author Response

• Thank you for this comment; we hope the applied changes are satisfactory and add value to the text.