Figure 6
Histological assessment of the effect of cell culture insert pore density on epithelial morphology of BBEC cultures. BBEC cultures were grown for 21 days at an ALI on membranes with pore densities of 2.0 × 106 or 1.0 × 108 pores/cm2 before being fixed and paraffin-embedded using standard histological techniques; samples of ex vivo tissue were also taken from the donor animal. Sections were cut, deparaffinised and stained as described in Fig. 1. Representative images are shown of (i) ex vivo bovine bronchial epithelium, and BBECs grown on inserts with (ii) 2.0 × 106 and (iii) 1.0 × 108 pores/cm2. Quantitative analyses (using ImageJ) of histological sections of BBEC layers, and ex vivo tissue, to assess (D) epithelial thickness and (E) the number of cell layers comprising the epithelium, were performed as described in Fig. 1. Statistical significance was tested using an Ordinary one-way ANOVA: * = P < 0.05.
