Prolonged airway explant culture enables study of health, disease, and viral pathogenesis

Purpose: To identify cell types and cellular transcriptional profiles in airway explants and precision cut lung slices obtained from non-disease human lung tissue. Methods: Large airway explants (LAE), small airway explants (SAE), and precision cut lung slides (PCLS) obtained from 3 non-disease donor lungs were cryopreserved after 0 (fresh), 2 and 14 days in culture. Cryopreserved tissues were thawed, enzymatically digested for cell dissociation, and used for scRNA-seq. Single cells were captured using a 10X Chromium controller (10X Genomics) and libraries were prepared following the Single Cell 3’ Reagent Kits v3.1 (Dual Index) User Guide (10X Genomics).