Aerosol technology to mimic dry powder inhalation in vitro using pulmonary cell models

•CULTEX® RFS-Vilnius technology enables delivery of small doses of drug powder aerosols to cellular models.•Different rank order of permeability identified for compounds tested in solution or dry powder form.•Pulmonary cell models of upper and lower airway allow to pinpoint differences in permeability across the airway tree.•TGF-β1 induced epithelial disruption is a good model to measure the impact of diseased pulmonary barriers in paracellular drug transport.