Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Dynamic Culture Improves the Predictive Power of Bronchial and Alveolar Airway Models of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
doi: 10.1101/2025.07.21.665885
Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Schematic of the PhysioMimix® lung MPS co-culture system. Epithelial cells were seeded on the apical side of the Transwell® insert and human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMVECs) on the basolateral side, under air–liquid interface (ALI) and dynamic flow conditions. (B) Representative H&E and Alcian blue-stained histological section of bronchial MPS co-culture after 14 days. Mucus is stained blue; endothelial cells are indicated by white arrows. Scale bar, 50 µm. (C) TEER measurements comparing epithelial monoculture, endothelial monoculture, and epithelial–endothelial co-culture over 14 days under ALI conditions. (D) TEER comparison of bronchial and alveolar co-cultures grown under static or dynamic flow MPS conditions over the 14-day ALI differentiation period. (E) Gene expression of Club cell (SCGB1A1) and Goblet cell (MUC5AC) markers in NHBE cells before culture (NHBE pellet) and after 14 days of differentiation in MPS co- culture. (F) Gene expression of alveolar markers - AT1 (AQP5) and AT2 (SFTPB) - in SAEC cells before culture (SAEC pellet) and after 14 days of MPS co-culture. (G) Immunofluorescence staining of bronchial MPS co-culture tissue for acetylated α-tubulin (yellow), mucus (MUC5AC, green), actin (phalloidin, red), and nuclei (Hoechst 33342, blue). Top row shows epithelial layer; bottom row shows endothelial layer. Scale bar, 100 µm. (H) Immunofluorescence staining of alveolar MPS co-culture tissue after 14 days of differentiation, showing surfactant (SFTPB, green), actin (phalloidin, magenta), and nuclei (Hoechst 33342, blue). Endothelial cells are marked with white arrows. Scale bar, 20 µm.
Article Snippet: Airway models were comprised of human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) (PromoCell, C-12281, lot.489Z024.1) and small airway epithelial cells (SAEC) (Lonza, CC-2547, lot.21TL214918) or normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) (Lonza, CC-2540, lot.21TL035497) for the alveolar and bronchial airway model, respectively.
Techniques: Co-Culture Assay, Staining, Comparison, Gene Expression, Immunofluorescence
