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One of the main limitations of in vitro studies on alveolar diseases has been is the difficulty of maintaining the type II phenotype of alveolar epithelial cells as cells quickly differentiate into type I phenotype. This fact has been previously related to the translocation of mechanosensing Yes-associated protein (YAP) to the nuclei and the Rho signaling pathway. In this work we cultured and subcultured primary type II alveolar epithelial cells on lung-derived hydrogels. Primary alveolar type II cells were isolated from rat lungs and seeded over extracellular matrix hydrogels obtained from the decellularization of porcine lungs. Cells were left to form a monolayer and subsequently trypsinized and subcultured again on a plastic dishes. Types I and II populations were identified by qPCR and the expression of relevant proteins (surfactant protein C and paxillin) was studied by immunofluorescence. To …