Fig. 4

Comparison of AT2-supportive capacity between subpopulations of lung fibroblasts in vitro (using Pdgfra-GFPmice). (A) Diagram of the experiments and the representative FACS panels for dividing fibroblasts into three subpopulations. (B) Representative images of alveolar organoids (culture day 11) made from 800 AT2 cells and 4000 lung fibroblasts (scale bar: 500 μm). The results are obtained from six independent adult male tamoxifen-treated Sftpc-creERT2; tdTomato mice (for AT2 cells) and six independent adult male Pdgfra-GFP mice (for fibroblasts). (C) Quantifications of the number (left) and perimeter (right) of alveolar organoids (AOs). Data represent the mean ± SEM of results obtained from six independent adult male mouse pairs as above. *P < 0.05 (one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction). (D) Comparison of mRNA expression levels by qRT-PCR for AT2-derived Tomato⁺ cells co-cultured with lung fibroblasts in each subpopulation. Data represent the mean ± SEM of results obtained from six independent mouse pairs as above. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction