Construction of an in vitro primary lung co-culture platform derived from New Zealand white rabbits

We report the construction of an in vitro three dimensional (3D) co-culture platform consisting of differentiated lung epithelial cells and monocytes from New Zealand white rabbits. Rabbit lung epithelial cells were successfully grown at air-liquid interface, produced mucus, and expressed both sialic acid alpha-2,3 and alpha-2,6. Blood-derived CD14+ monocytes were deposited above the epithelial layer resulting in the differentiation of a subset of monocytes into CD11c+ cells within the co-culture. These proof-of-concept findings provide a convenient means to comparatively study in vitro versus in vivo rabbit lung responses as they relate to inhalation or lung-challenge studies.