Biological Characteristics of Type II Alveolar Epithelial Cells Co-cultured with Lung Fibroblasts

Abstract: To observe the biological characteristics of type II alveolar epithelial cells (AECII) co-cultured with lung fibroblasts (LF) in vitro， a co-culture model of AECII and LF from fetal rat lung was set up. The morphological change and growth of AECII were observed under inverted phase contrast microscope. The SP-C and AQP5 expressions in mRNA and protein levels were observed by RT-PCR and flow cytometry. Flow cytometry was also used to detect the cell cycle and Ki67 expression of AECII. When co-cultured with LF， AECII could keep its morphology well， and the SP-C expression in mRNA and protein levels increased markedly， while the AQP5 expression decreased. LF facilitated the proliferation of AECII by increased the percentage of cells in S and G₂/M phases and the expression rate of Ki67. The results showed that AECII can keep its morphology， differentiated and proliferation characteristics when co-cultured with LF

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2007.03.0022