Effects of lung and airway epithelial maturation cocktail on the structure of lung bud organoids.

Organoids from human pluripotent stem cells are becoming suitable models for studies of organ development, drug screening, regenerative medicine, and disease modeling. Three-dimensional minilungs in Matrigel culture have recently been generated from human embryonic stem cells. These particular organoids, named lung bud organoids, showed branching airway and early alveolar structures resembling those present in lungs from the second trimester of human gestation. We show here that the treatment of such organoids with a lung and airway epithelial maturation cocktail containing dexamethasone drives lung bud organoids to the formation of paddle-racquet like structures. This strategy may help to increase the versatility of lung organoids and to generate structures more advanced than the original branching texture.