Histological severity scoring was performed in a double-blinded manner using the following criteria: 0—unaffected co-culture, 1—mild injury with minor mesothelial loosening, 2—moderate injury with some mesothelial disruption, 3—severe injury with continuous mesothelial disruption and some detachment, and 4—extensive injury, massive mesothelial disruption and detachment.
For immunofluorescence staining, sections were stained as previously described [25 (link)] with primary antibodies against cellular Jun (c-Jun) (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA, USA) diluted in blocking buffer (1:100), vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) (1:250), as well as zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) (1:1000) (Proteintech, Rosemont, IL, USA). After three washes in tris-buffered saline (TBS) for 10 min, slides were incubated with goat-anti rabbit Alexa Fluor-labeled secondary antibodies (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA, USA) diluted in blocking buffer.