Fig. 4

Alveolar basal cells cultured on an ALI differentiate to secretory- and ciliated epithelial cells. Illustration of alveolar BC ALI culture (A). Experiments presented in this figure were performed in alveolar BC from 3–5 different IPF patients (n-number). RNA expression levels (− ΔCt) of KRT5, SCGB1A1, MUC5AC, MUC5B, FOXJ1, or MMP7 in alveolar BC (n = 5) cultured on an ALI on day 0 and day 23. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (Mann–Whitney test, ** indicates p < 0.01) (B). Representative ICC/IF images of ALI cultured alveolar BC (n = 2) incubated with antibodies detecting SCGB1A1, MUC5AC, or AcTub at day 0 and day 23 (C). Representative images of ALI culture cryosections (n = 3–4) incubated with antibodies detecting KRT5, KRT17, p63, SCGB1A1, MUC5AC, AcTub, MUC5B or MMP7 at day 23 (D). Nuclei were counter-stained with DAPI (C, D)