Co-culture of human type I and type II pneumocyte cell lines as a model of alveolar epithelium

The epithelial tissues of the distal lung are continuously exposed to inhaled air, and are thus of research interest in studying respiratory exposure to both therapeutic and hazardous materials. There is a need therefore to develop sophisticated models of the human alveolar epithelium, which better represent the different cell types present in the native lung and interactions between them. Our aim was to develop an air-liquid interface (ALI) model of the alveolar epithelium by incorporating human cell lines which bear features of type I (hAELVi) and type II (NCI-H441) epithelial cells. Brookes et al (2021) PLoS ONE 16(9):e0248798. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.024879