MucilAir™: A Premium 3D Human Airway Epithelia reconstituted in vitro
with Long Shelf-Life
General Information
Epithelix has developed, provides and sells a unique 3D model of the Human Airway Epithelium which has the following characteristics:
Made of primary human cellsisolated from the nasal cavity, the trachea and the bronchus
Cultured at Air-liquid Interface
Mimics the in vivo tissue of the human respiratory epithelium:
Basal, goblet, ciliated cells, mucus
Cilia Beating
Tight junctions
Active ion transport
Metabolic activity / detoxification (CYP450)
Cytokine / chemokine / metalloproteinase release, etc.
Fully differentiated and functional for more than one year
Very high batch to batch reproducibility
Ready and easy to use
Pathologies
MucilAir™ with several pathologies are available:
Normal
Smoker
Allergic Rhinitis
Asthma
COPD
Cystic Fibrosis
Description and Maintenance
MucilAir™ is reconstituted and sold in a Transwell of 6.5 mm of diameter, with a pore size of 0.4 μm (Costar 3470, Corning incorporated). Each reconstituted epithelium contains about 400,000 cells. Once differentiated, the epithelium will remain at a homeostasis state for more than one year. Epithelix has a continous production of MucilAir™ to allow no delivery delay. MucilAir™ is shipped worldwide (Europe –US – Asia Pacific) at room temperature.
Culture Medium
The maintenance of MucilAir™ requires a specific culture medium: MucilAir™ Culture Medium. The average need per insert for one month of culture is estimated to be 8.5 mL. This medium is chemically defined and serum free. It is available in 125 mL format.
Quality Control
All cultures from Epithelix are subjected to comprehensive quality tests:
Cilia Beating Monitoring (a movie of each batch is givento our customers)
Sealing of the epithelium (Good Trans Epithelial Electrical Resistance)
Presence of mucus
Morphology
Tested negative for HIV-1, mycoplasma, hepatitis-B, hepatitis-C, bacteria, yeast and fungi.
Schematic representation of MucilAir™
Pré-différenciated epithelium
1,5 month of culturing
Appearing of ciliated, mucus and basal cells
Establishment of absoption / secretion properties
Stabilisation of electrophysiological properties
Fully différenciated epithelium
Ciliogenesis during MucilAir™ differentiation
Immunostaining of cilia with an anti-beta-tubulin antibody on 21, 30, 45 and 60 days old epithelia.
Labeling of actin (revealed with fluorescent phalloïdin) on MucilAir™
Labeling of a 30 days old epithelium with phalloïdin (objective x10).
Labeling of a 30 days old epithelium with phalloïdin (objective x20).
Immunolabeling of a 30 days old epithelium with phalloïdin and an antibody directed against beta-tubulin (confocal microscopy)
Videomicroscopy movies on a 3 months old MucilAir™ (6 seconds in movies = 1 hours of real time)
In this movie, the beating of cilia is clearly visible at the apical surface of MucilAir™. This beating induces the movement of the particles trapped in the mucus. See the movie (3,64 Mo)
In this movie, MucilAir™ was filmed during 5 hours at room temperature out of the incubator. There is no visible change of the MucilAir™ structure with time. See the movie (11,4 Mo)
In this movie, MucilAir™ was filmed during 12 hours at room temperature out of the incubator. In spite of these drastic conditions, the epithelium maintained its integrity and remained functional. See the movie (27,3 Mo)
In this movie, MucilAir™ was filmed during 21 hours at room temperature out of the incubator in the presence of 1 mM of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid (ALA). When exposed to the light, this molecule generated free radicals in the cells. It is often used for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of acnea, cancer, etc. The illumination of MucilAir™ in the presence of ALA induced a clearly visible alteration and damages of the structure after 4-5 hours (24-30 s). See the movie (47.3 Mo)
Inserts
MucilAir™ is reconstituted and sold in separable Transwell of 6.5 mm of diameter, with a pore size of 0.4 μm (Costar 3470, Corning incorporated).
MucilAir™ fit in VITROCELL modules. Adaptors for Costar 3470 are available upon request from Vitrocell.
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