Gene expression profile at single cell level of murine air liquid interface cultures
Alveolar type 2 (AT2) and club cells are part of the stem cell niche of the lung and their differentiation is required for pulmonary homeostasis and tissue regeneration. A disturbed crosstalk between fibroblasts and epithelial cells contributes to the loss of lung structure in chronic lung diseases. We used single cell RNA sequencing to analyze the interaction of fibroblasts and the alveolar epithelium modelled in air-liquid interface cultures. Overall design: Lung epithelial cells were apically seeded in Transwells and fibroblasts in the basolateral compartment. The apical chamber medium was aspirated after 2 days. Single cell suspensions were obtained after 2 days post airlift and single cell transcriptome profiling was performed by BD Rhapsody™ Single-Cell Analysis System.