Defense functions of normal human bronchial epithelial cells from explant-outgrowth co-culture with human lung fibroblasts

Airway epithelial cells fulfil several functions that are implicated in protecting the airways from exogenous insults. These defense functions range from the structural integrity of mucus and the differentiation of the epithelial cell layer to the production of inflammatory mediators. After an explant-outgrowth culture of epithelial cells from small bronchi pure populations of primary isolated normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) were cultured with lung fibroblasts as bilayer on a 24-well HTS-Transwell filter plate. The cells were grown on a collagen type I and maintained at an air-liquid interface (AL…