Respiratory epithelial cell lines exposed to anoxia produced inflammatory mediator.

Human epithelial cell lines were utilized to examine the effects of anoxia on cellular growth and metabolism. Three normal human epithelial cells lines (A549, NHBE, and BEAS-2B) as well as a cystic fibrosis cell line (IB3-1) and its mutation corrected cell line (C38) were grown in the presence and absence of oxygen for varying periods of time. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique.