SOT 62nd Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 19-23 2023, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Matthew Stevenson1, Ewelina Hoffmann2, Abigail Martin2, Edgar Trelles Sticken3, Roman Wieczorek3, Sarah Jean Pour3, Fiona Chapman1, Liam Simms1
1Imperial Brands PLC, 121 Winterstoke Road, Bristol, BS3 2LL, UK,
2ImmuOne, College Lane, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK,
3Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, An Imperial Brands PLC company, Albert-Einstein-Ring-7, D-22761, Hamburg, Germany
INTRODUCTION
Immune cells are a critical component of the lower airways, however there is currently a lack of in vitro models available which can assess the interaction of immune cells with alveolar cells and model their combined responses to external stressors. Here we assess a commercially available co-culture model, ImmuLUNGTM(ImmuONE Ltd), which utilises alveolar epithelial and alveolar macrophage-like cells.
We exposed the ImmuLUNGTM model to combustible tobacco smoke or non-combustible next generation nicotine delivery product (NGP) aerosol fractions and determined any resulting biological responses. ImmuLung cultures were treated and subsequently stained with antibodies / dyes to investigate potential impact on macrophage health and morphology using high content screening technology. Additional endpoints assessed included macrophage phagocytic activity and alveolar epithelial barrier properties.