Figure 5. AT2s^Axin2 exhibit enhanced ex vivo lung organoid formation.

(A-C) AT2s^Axin2 exhibit an increase in colony forming efficiency for lung alveolar organoid formation compared to total AT2s at passage 0 (P0) and passage 1 (P1). By passage 2 and 3 (P2-P3), these differences are no longer significant. (D and F) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining showing organoid structure in total AT2s and AT2s^Axin2. (E and G) Immunohistochemical staining for the AT2 and AT1 markers, Sftpc and Pdpn, respectively, demonstrate that total AT2s and AT2s^Axin2 are composed of both differentiated AT2s and AT1s. (H-L) Wnt3a treatment increases CFE while IWP2 treatment inhibits CFE in AT2 derived organoids. Treatment with both IWP2 and Wnt3a shows that inhibition can be rescued, in part, with exogenous Wnt ligand. Quantification of CFE is represented as average CFE ± SEM. Two-tailed student's t-test: *P < 0.05, n > 3 for each group in 4 independent experiments for A-I, n > 2 for each group in 3 independent experiments for J-N.