Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can give rise to a vast array of
differentiated derivatives, which have gained great attention in the field of
in vitro
toxicity evaluation. We have previously
demonstrated that hPSC-derived alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) are
phenotypically and functionally similar to primary AECs and could be more
biologically relevant alternatives for assessing the potential toxic materials
including in fine dust and cigarette smoking. Therefore, in this study, we
employed hPSC-AECs to evaluate their responses to exposure of various
concentrations of diesel particulate matter (dPM), cigarette smoke extract (CSE)
and nicotine for 48 hrs in terms of cell death, inflammation, and oxidative
stress. We found that all of these toxic materials significantly upregulated the
transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as
IL-1α
,
IL-β
,
IL-6
, and
TNF-α
. Furthermore, the
exposure of dPM (100 μg/mL) strongly induced upregulation of genes
related with cell death, inflammation, and oxidative stress compared with other
concentrations of CSE and nicotine. These results suggest that hPSC-AECs could
be a robust
in vitro
platform to evaluate pulmotoxicity of
various air pollutants and harmful chemicals.
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