A549 cells - (Feb/19/2009 )

I am confused with A549 cells. They are carcinomic human type II alveolar epithelial cells. The type II cells are cuboidal but A549 cells are suggested to be squamous cells in the literature (which means they should be really flat). But I have found one paper where they measured the thickness of A549 cells and reported it as 10 um. In this paper they are reported as cuboidal cells.
http://ajrcmb.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/36/6/669
Here is my question: are A549 cells cuboidal or squamous? I have started working with A549 cells and they look very thin and after finding the paper which has reported their thickness as 10 um I am suspicious if my cells are really A549 cell. Any helps will be really appreciated.
Thanks!

Have you see the images of A549 cells from ATCC

pcrman on Feb 19 2009, 09:02 PM said:

Yes, I have seen this. But you cannot say much about their thickness from their picture. My cells look very similar to these but my confucion comes from the fact that some say these cells are squamous and others say cuboidal.

Cuboidal is a subset of squamous epithelial cells.

I think they are more cuboidal when fully confluent.