Serum- and BPE-free medium for expansion of primary human airway epithelial cells.

PneumaCult™-Ex is a defined, serum- and BPE-free cell culture medium that supports rapid expansion of human airway epithelial cells. Primary airway epithelial cells cultured in PneumaCult™-Ex expand rapidly over at least 3 passages while maintaining a cobblestone morphology and uniform expression of the basal cell markers p63 and p75NTR. Additionally, cells cultured in PneumaCult™-Ex can be differentiated to form a pseudostratified mucociliary epithelium when cultured at the air-liquid interface in PneumaCult™-ALI. Together, PneumaCult™-Ex and PneumaCult™-ALI constitute a fully integrated BPE-free culture system for in vitro human airway modeling. This robust and defined system is a valuable tool for basic respiratory research, toxicity studies, and drug development.