A human alveolus-on-chip model for studying radiation induced lung injury

Acute exposure to high-dose gamma radiation often results in radiation-induced lung injury (RILI), characterized by acute pneumonitis and subsequent lung fibrosis. A microfluidic organ-on-a-chip device consisting of human lung alveolar epithelium and pulmonary endothelium (Lung Alveolus Chip) is used to recapitulate acute, early stage RILI in vitro. This RNA-seq data captures that both the lung epithelium and endothelium in this model capture key hallmarks of this disease particularly, DNA damage, cellular hypertrophy, upregulation of inflammatory cytokines, and loss of barrier function within 6h of radiation exposure. The data also suggests that radiation affects the alveolar endothelium more significantly than the epithelium. The alveolus chips are exposed to radiation injury at 16 Gy and shows effects that resemble the human lung greater than animal preclinical models. These data demonstrate that the Lung Alveolus Chip provides a human relevant alternative approach for studying the molecular basis of acute RILI towards screening radiation countermeasure therapeutics. To assess the effect of radiation on the lung alveolar epithelium and the endothelium in a human lung alveolus chip. The study evaluates the effect of radiation on 2 cell types (human primary alveolar epithelium and lung microvascular endothelium) at two time-points (6 h and 7 d after radiation exposure). The controls are from human alveolus chips that receive no radiation exposure and are compared to alveolus chips that receive 16 Gy radiation. Each condition has 4 replicates: Alveolar epithelium (0 Gy) 6h, Alveolar epithelium (16 Gy) 6h, Microvascular endothelium (0 Gy) 6h, Microvascular endothelium (16 Gy) 6h, Alveolar epithelium (0 Gy) 7d, Alveolar epithelium (16 Gy) 7d, Microvascular endothelium (0 Gy) 7d, Microvascular endothelium (16 Gy) 7d