Pulmonary Epithelial Cell Culture

The respiratory epithelium changes dramatically in cellular composition as the conducting airways give way to the alveolar regions of the lung. This chapter will concentrate on the culture of cells that make up the epithelial monolayer of the peripheral gas exchange (pulmonary) region of the lung. The pulmonary epithelium is composed of alveolar type I and type II epithelial cells, which are present in a 1:2 ratio. Alveolar type II cells differentiate into type I cells as part of the normal physiological replacement or repair mechanism, but the two cell types (also known as pneumocytes) are functionally and morphologically distinct (see Table 1). Despite their greater numbers compared to type I cells, alveolar type II cells comprise less than 10% of the epithelial surface area, even when their apical microvilli are taken into account. The type II cells are cuboidal in shape and can be distinguished by their lamellar bodies, which are unique to these cells (1). Alveolar type I cells are squamous, contain few mitochondria or cellular inclusions, and make up over 90% of the epithelial surface (2).