Mimicking acute airway tissue damage using femtosecond laser nanosurgery in airway organoids.

Airway organoids derived from adult murine epithelial cells represent a complex 3D system mimicking the airway epithelial tissue's native cell composition and physiological properties. In combination with a precise damage induction via femtosecond laser-based nanosurgery, this model might allow for the examination of intra- and intercellular dynamics in the course of repair processes with a high spatio-temporal resolution, which can hardly be reached using approaches. For characterization of the organoids' response to single or multiple-cell ablation, we first analyzed overall organoid survival and found that airway organoids were capable of efficiently repairing damage induced by femtosecond laser-based ablation of a single to ten cells within 24 h.