The GeLu cell line was established from the lung tissue of a female Mongolian gerbil that was 403 days old. Scientifically described as Meriones unguiculatus, the Mongolian gerbil is a small rodent native to the hot, arid regions of Africa and Asia.

The GeLu line grows adherently to both glass and plastic surfaces in culture and exhibits typical fibroblast morphology. The cells are known to be susceptible to several viruses, including adenovirus 2, vesicular stomatitis (Indiana strain), Semliki forest, germiston, and herpes simplex. GeLu cells demonstrate resistance to polioviruses 1 and 3, and they are negative for reverse transcriptase.

The location of gas exchange for the entire body, alveoli are the tiny clusters of air sacs found at the tips of the smallest bronchioles present in the lungs. The alveolar septum is the tissue that separates adjacent alveolar air spaces. It is within this tissue that fibroblasts are generally present in the lungs. The cells produce extracellular matrix materials, such as collagen and proteoglycan, and special lung fibroblasts known as myofibroblasts may play a part in the contractile regulation of blood flow. Lung fibroblasts have, however, been of more interest to the scientific community recently due to new evidence that the cells are heavily involved in the development of the surfactant-producing type II alveolar cells. Needed to coat alveoli and help keep them from collapsing, surfactant is a substance composed of lipoprotein. According to the latest studies, the production of a low molecular weight protein by lung fibroblasts stimulates the alveolar cells to generate surfactant.

The GeLu cell culture presented in the digital image above was immunofluorescently labeled with mouse anti-alpha-tubulin primary antibodies followed by goat anti-mouse secondary antibodies conjugated to Alexa Fluor 568. In addition, the specimen was counterstained with TO-PRO-3, which targets nuclear DNA. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to either a Nikon E-600 or Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles with the exception of TO-PRO-3, which was pseudocolored yellow.

Targeting the Microtubule Network in Cultured GeLu Cells with Immunofluorescence - Immunofluorescence with mouse anti-alpha-tubulin was employed to visualize distribution of the microtubule network in the gerbil lung fibroblast cell culture illustrated in this section. The secondary antibody (goat anti-mouse IgG) was conjugated to Alexa Fluor 568. DNA in the cell nucleus was labeled with the nucleic acid stain TO-PRO-3.