Figure 6.

RANKL induces expression of M-cell associated genes in air-liquid interface culture of tracheal epithelial cells. (A) Schematic diagram depicting the air–liquid interface (ALI) culturing protocol. Tracheal epithelial cells harvested from ddY mice were cultured on Transwell culture inserts under submerged conditions. After the cells became confluent, they were cultured under ALI conditions with 1 μg/mL GST or GST–RANKL. (B) Representative graph of the change of transepithelial electric resistance during submerged culture. (C) Time course of the expression of M-cell-associated genes in the ALI culture of tracheal epithelial cells that were harvested every other day after GST or GST–RANKL administration for 8 days. (D) Dose dependence of GST–RANKL for the induction of M-cell-associated genes in the tracheal epithelial cells. Cells were cultured for 6 days under ALI conditions with the indicated concentration of GST–RANKL. Representative data of three individual experiments are shown in (B–D). The bars on the graph represent the standard deviation of triplicate samples.