Your airways branch like a tree, into tubes thinner than a hair. Club cells guard those tiniest tubes and help keep them clean and healthy.
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Your windpipe splits into smaller and smaller tubes inside your lungs. The tiniest ones are called bronchioles. Club cells live in their lining.
A club cell has no hairs on top. Instead, its top bulges up into a round dome, like the end of a club. That's how it got its name.
Club cells used to be called Clara cells. Scientists changed the name to club cells, after their club-like shape.
Club cells release helpful substances into the airway. Some help protect the lining. Some help calm down swelling. Club cells also help break down some harmful things you breathe in.
And they're a repair crew. If the airway lining gets hurt, club cells can divide and make new cells to patch it up.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Release helpers to watch the club cell send out its protective substances.