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. 2018 Oct 5;8:14893. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33180-w

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Mucus production and identification of goblet cells in BBEC cultures. Bronchial epithelial cell cultures were grown for 21 days at an ALI before fixation. The BBEC cultures were subsequently processed to assess mucus production and identify goblet cells using (A) immunofluorescence microscopy and (B) SEM. In (A) standard immunofluorescence imaging shows mucus and its association with goblet cells (i) (mucus [Muc5AC] - green; nuclei – blue); Z-stack orthogonal representation highlights surface-localisation of mucus (ii) (mucus [Muc5AC] - green; cilia - red; nuclei - blue). In (B) SEM revealed the presence of numerous globules of mucus and their close association with cilia ([i], arrowheads) and identified goblet cells in the act of extruding mucus ([ii], arrowhead).