PACB is committed to providing top-quality airway epithelial cells to researchers. This platform involves the establishment of a procurement network through Canada, with several physicians and surgical teams, following ethical requirements.

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From CF Patient to CF Investigator

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Primary human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) are isolated from human lungs, normal orÌýdiseasedÌýsuch as:

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Human lung dissection
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Human lung tissues areÌýprovided by transplant centers across Canada and other not-for-profit partners.ÌýPrimary airways cells are isolated, cultured and cryopreserved at PACB.​ÌýAfter rigorous quality control assessing the genotype (CF), cell purity and differentiation capacity transport function;Ìýhigh quality primary cells displaying characteristics very similar to in vivo airways (i.e. abundance of ciliated and goblet cells) are supplied on different formats (cryovials, flasks, well differentiated epithelium on filters) at a competitive price as compared to primary HBE cells presently on the market.Ìý

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How is the pseudostratified epithelium differentiated?

Obtaining well differentiated polarized HBE cultures is crucial to have a representative model in vitro, featuring physiological and morphological characteristics similar to the surface airway epithelial cells in the lung.

The differentiation of primary HBE cells to a pseudostratified mucociliary epithelium is reproducibly achieved by culturing cells for 21 to 30 days on porous filters in air-liquid interface.
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Pseudostratified and differentiated epithelium

The resulting in vitro model exhibit physiologically relevant proportions of goblet and ciliated cells and recapitulates many of the characteristics of the in vivo human airways, including mucus secretion, cilia motility and formation of cellular tight junctions.

PACB is committed to offering advice and technical support to users.

We also provide specialized cell-culture media (ie. BEGM, ALI), personalized to the needs of the investigator.