Fig. 4
HBFs in EMTUs modulate the TEER value and ALI-related genes expression in AS epithelial layer. HBECs were cultured alone (CTRL, TGF-β1) or in a EMTU co-cultures in the absence (CTRL HBFs) or presence of TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml; TGF-β1 HBFs) for 4 days. TEER values were measured before EMTU establishment and after 4 days of cultures, in triplicates for each experimental condition. b Results were presented as the change of TEER value after 4 days of EMTU in relation to TEER values before EMTU establishment (% of control, where the control group was the differentiated HBECs cultured without the presence of HBFs AS or NA and TGF-β1) as an average ± SEM. c-d Expression of differentiated HBECs markers (DNAH9, MUC5AC or P63) in EMTU was determined by RT-qPCR (reference: GAPDH c-d or GAPDH and 18S e). Results were presented as 2-ΔΔCt value. Data from all experiments represent the mean ± SEM carried out on HBECs AS (n = 4) and NA (n = 4). Statistical significances were tested using the non-parametric Friedmann with Dunn’s Multiple Comparison post hoc test (comparison between AS and NA group) or Kruskall-Wallis tests (comparison within the group) with Dunn’s Multiple Comparison post hoc test; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01,*** p < 0.001