title: Isolation and characterization of distal lung progenitor cells.
abstract: The majority of epithelial cells in the distal lung of rodents and humans are quiescent in vivo, yet certain cell populations retain an intrinsic capacity to proliferate and differentiate in response to lung injury or in appropriate culture settings, thus giving them properties of stem/progenitor cells. Here, we describe the isolation of two such populations from adult mouse lung: alveolar epithelial type 2 cells (AEC2), which can generate alveolar epithelial type 1 cells, and bronchioalveolar stem cells (BASCs), which in culture can reproduce themselves, as well as generate a small number of other distal lung epithelial cell types. These primary epithelial cells are typically isolated using enzyme digestion, mechanical disruption, and serial filtration. AEC2 and BASCs are distinguished from other distal lung cells by expression of specific markers as detected by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, immunohistochemistry, or a combination of both of these techniques.
authors.affiliation: The Saban Institute for Research, Department of Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. bdriscoll@chla.usc.edu
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Driscoll
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Allison N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Jooeun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Raghava
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jesudason
authors.forename: Carla F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Warburton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*