An Investigation into the Feasibility of Utilizing Fluidic Shear Stresses to Functionally Organize Conducting Airway Epithelium

There are currently no reliable clinical treatments for reconstructing large segments of injured trachea. Recent implants have suboptimal mucociliary clearance in the trachea due to improper organization of the airway epithelium. Organization of the airway epithelium determines ciliary beat direction and coordination for proper mucociliary clearance. Fluidic shear stresses have been shown to influence ciliary organization and short-term airflow shear stresses have been shown to affect ciliary function. An in vitro fluidic flow system is developed for inducing long-term airflow shear stresses on airway epithelium to influence epithelial organization. Validation of the system is determined by measuring cell viability and mature epithelial cell markers. The system is utilized to investigate the organizational effects of long-term airflow shear stresses on maturing cells. From the experiments, airflow shear stresses are unable to override existing organizing cues. The goal of this study is to provide valuable information on strategies to generate functional epithelium.