Research on activation and differentiation of airway epithelial cells by using of 3-dimensional culture system.

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We succeeded in the culture of guinea-pig tracheal epithelial cells on the human amnion membrane. Ciliated cells were observed during 3 weeks in the condition of air-interface feeding. However, any goblet or basal cells were not found in this culture system. The tracheal epithelial cells of the guinea pig were co-cultured with fibroblasts of the guineapig lung, which grew under the human amnion membrane. This co-culture facilitated the differentiation of epithelial cells into ciliated cells, goblet cells and basal cells. Moreover, epithelial layr formed a pseudomultilayr and epithelial cells looked more cuboidal than that without fibroblasts. Also, we looked for the factor that facilitated pseudomultilayr in the co-culture-condition of epithelial cells and fibroblasts. We added several growth factors such as EGF-1, IGF-1, PDGF,TGF-beta, HGF or FGF-2 on the culture medium of epithelial cells alone. Only FGF-2 facilitated pseudomultilayr in the epithelial cell culture.Bronchial asthma has been recognized as chronic airway inflammatory disease, in which developing process remodeling of the airway wall is a critical phenomenon. We can observe inflammatory cell infiltration into the airway, thickening of the basement membrane and hyperplasia of goblet cells in the airway of chronic asthmatics. Airway epithelial cell may play an important role in those process. Then, it is not negligible to elucidate the mechanism of remodeling of the airway on the research of bronchial asthma.