Comparison of cytoskeletal structures in glass-adherent and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane-adherent human pulmonary fibroblasts

In order to use microporous membranes as a culture substratum for later air/liquid exposures with human pulmonary fibroblasts, we were interested to find out whether the behaviour of cells grown on PET membranes differs from those cultured under conventional conditions. We therefore compared cytoskeletal structures of membrane-adherent and glass-adherent cells. There were no differences found between the cytoskeleton of cells grown on membranes or on glass. They attach equally to both of the substrates and develop the same cytoskeletal structures. We also investigated the proliferative activity of the fibroblasts on PET-cell culture inserts by determination of Pico Green intercalation into DNA and turnover of a tetrazolium salt (WST) by mitochondrial activity. In summary, the fibroblasts were found to show characteristic growth tendencies when cultivated on PET membranes.