Adult rat lung in organ culture: maintenance of histotypic structure and ability to synthesize phospholipid.

The maintenance of adult rat lung explants in organ culture was assessed both morphologically and biochemically. A comparison of several culture media indicated that Ham's F12K plus 1.0 microM dexamethasone, which maintained the explants for 14 days, was superior. The ability of the explants to synthesize dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine increased with the length of cultivation to values greater than the noncultivated controls. The DNA content remained constant for 7 days, and a relatively normal structural relationship between type I and type II pneumocytes was maintained. Explants cultivated in Ham's F12K without dexamethasone did not maintain a histotypic morphology; the type II pneumocytes appeared to proliferate and the ability to synthesize phosphatidylcholine decreased.