Wild type mice (purchased from SPF (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd.) were maintained under specific pathogen-free conditions at the animal facility of Tianjin University Haihe Hospital (Tianjin, China). They were kept under a 12-h light/dark cycle with free access to food and water. A total of 60 male mice aged between 8 and 16 weeks and weighing 22-24 g were used for in vitro culture experiments and in vivo lung injury experiments. Scgb1a1-CreER™; Rosa26-mTmG (Scgb1a1-mT/mG) mice were established by mating Scgb1a1-CreER™ (Jackson Laboratory) and Rosa26 mTmG (Gt(ROSA)26Sortm4(ACTB-tdTomato,-EGFP)Luo) mice donated by Dr Ning of Nankai University. The naphthalene injury experiment was performed as described previously (18 (link)): Age- and sex-matched mice were injected intraperitoneally with or without 250 mg/kg naphthalene (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) dissolved in corn oil (Sigma-Aldrich; Merck KGaA). At days 0, 3 and 10 post-injection, mice (day 0, n=10; day 3, n=8; day 10, n=10) were euthanized with an overdose of pentobarbital sodium (150 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) and lung tissues were collected for gene expression analysis. All mice were treated with strict adherence to the protocol approved by the Haihe Hospital Animal Care and Use Committee (Tianjin, China; no. 2020HHSQKT-001).