Pulmonary drug delivery epithelial cells

Elbert KJ, Schafer UF, Schafers HJ, Kim KJ, Lee VHL, Lehr C-M (1999) Mono-layers of human alveolar epithelial cells in primary cultures for pulmonary drug delivery and transport studies. Pharm Res 16 601-608. 

The lung comprises about 40 different cell types, amongst which type I and type II alveolar epithelial cells are the major types targeted by pulmonary drug delivery systems. Type I cells play an important role in the absorption process of proteins, while type II cells produce surfactant, regulate the immune response, and serve... 

Pulmonary drug delivery is also applicable using liposomes, because they are absorbed through the thin layer of alveolar epithelial cells (vast surface for an adult is 43-102 m ) (12-14) and transported into the systemic circulation (15-17). However, the inhaled objects can be eliminated by macrophages from the alveoli surface when they are bigger than 260 nm (18). 

Brack A, Abu-Dahab R, Borchard G, et al. Lectin-functionalized liposomes for pulmonary drug delivery interaction with human alveolar epithelial cells. J Drug Target 2001 9 241. 

The purpose of this chapter is to present overviews of a selection of the major endothelial and epithelial barriers to drug delivery for which there are either primary culture or cell line systems that recapitulate the characteristics of the in vivo barrier. Our objective is to define some general characteristics of cell culture models and highlight the more commonly applied primary cell cultures and cell lines in use today. Specifically, we focus on cell culture models for the intestinal epithelium, blood-brain barrier, pulmonary and nasal epithelium, ocular epithelium, placental barrier, and renal epithelium. Renal epithelium was included here primarily because some cell lines derived from this tissue [e.g., Madin-Darby canine kidney cells (MDCK)] are often used as surrogates for other barriers by pharmaceutical scientists. We have arbitrarily chosen to exclude the skin and liver from the scope of this overview. However, it should be noted that hepatocyte cell culture models, for example, are becoming more widely available and have been the subject of recent reviews.1,2... 

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