Biomaterial Database

Isolation and culture of alveolar type II cells. 1990

L G Dobbs

Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0130.

The alveolar type II cell performs many important functions within the lung, including regulation of surfactant metabolism, ion transport, and alveolar repair. Because type II cells comprise only 15% of all lung cells, it is difficult to attribute specific functions to type II cells from studies of whole lungs or mixed cell cultures. At the present time, there is no passaged line that exhibits the full range of known type II cell functions. For these reasons, investigators have used isolated type II cells to study alveolar cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. This review addresses many of the issues involved in isolating and culturing type II cells, including the choice of a method of isolating cells, the importance of using specific markers of the differentiated type II cell phenotype, and the problems of maintaining these differentiated phenotypic characteristics in tissue culture.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011650	Pulmonary Alveoli	Small polyhedral outpouchings along the walls of the alveolar sacs, alveolar ducts and terminal bronchioles through the walls of which gas exchange between alveolar air and pulmonary capillary blood takes place.	Alveoli, Pulmonary,Alveolus, Pulmonary,Pulmonary Alveolus
D002469	Cell Separation	Techniques for separating distinct populations of cells.	Cell Isolation,Cell Segregation,Isolation, Cell,Cell Isolations,Cell Segregations,Cell Separations,Isolations, Cell,Segregation, Cell,Segregations, Cell,Separation, Cell,Separations, Cell
D002478	Cells, Cultured	Cells propagated in vitro in special media conducive to their growth. Cultured cells are used to study developmental, morphologic, metabolic, physiologic, and genetic processes, among others.	Cultured Cells,Cell, Cultured,Cultured Cell
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D046508	Culture Techniques	Methods of maintaining or growing biological materials in controlled laboratory conditions. These include the cultures of CELLS; TISSUES; organs; or embryo in vitro. Both animal and plant tissues may be cultured by a variety of methods. Cultures may derive from normal or abnormal tissues, and consist of a single cell type or mixed cell types.	Culture Technique,Technique, Culture,Techniques, Culture