Laucho-Contreras Maria E, Taylor Katherine L, Mahadeva Ravi, Boukedes Steve S, Owen Caroline A
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital - Harvard Medical School.
Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Cambridge - Addenbrooke's Hospital.
J Vis Exp. 2015 Jan 16(95):52236. doi: 10.3791/52236.
COPD is projected to be the third most common cause of mortality world-wide by 2020((1)). Animal models of COPD are used to identify molecules that contribute to the disease process and to test the efficacy of novel therapies for COPD. Researchers use a number of models of COPD employing different species including rodents, guinea-pigs, rabbits, and dogs((2)). However, the most widely-used model is that in which mice are exposed to cigarette smoke. Mice are an especially useful species in which to model COPD because their genome can readily be manipulated to generate animals that are either deficient in, or over-express individual proteins. Studies of gene-targeted mice that have been exposed to cigarette smoke have provided valuable information about the contributions of individual molecules to different lung pathologies in COPD((3-5)). Most studies have focused on pathways involved in emphysema development which contributes to the airflow obstruction that is characteristic of COPD. However, small airway fibrosis also contributes significantly to airflow obstruction in human COPD patients((6)), but much less is known about the pathogenesis of this lesion in smoke-exposed animals. To address this knowledge gap, this protocol quantifies both emphysema development and small airway fibrosis in smoke-exposed mice. This protocol exposes mice to CS using a whole-body exposure technique, then measures respiratory mechanics in the mice, inflates the lungs of mice to a standard pressure, and fixes the lungs in formalin. The researcher then stains the lung sections with either Gill's stain to measure the mean alveolar chord length (as a readout of emphysema severity) or Masson's trichrome stain to measure deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins around small airways (as a readout of small airway fibrosis). Studies of the effects of molecular pathways on both of these lung pathologies will lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of COPD.
预计到2020年,慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)将成为全球第三大常见死因((1))。COPD动物模型用于识别导致疾病进程的分子,并测试COPD新型疗法的疗效。研究人员使用了多种COPD模型,涉及不同物种,包括啮齿动物、豚鼠、兔子和狗((2))。然而,使用最广泛的模型是让小鼠暴露于香烟烟雾中的模型。小鼠是建立COPD模型特别有用的物种,因为它们的基因组可以很容易地被操纵,以产生缺乏或过度表达单个蛋白质的动物。对暴露于香烟烟雾的基因靶向小鼠的研究提供了关于单个分子对COPD不同肺部病变贡献的有价值信息((3 - 5))。大多数研究集中在与肺气肿发展相关的途径上,肺气肿会导致COPD特有的气流阻塞。然而,小气道纤维化在人类COPD患者的气流阻塞中也起重要作用((6)),但对于烟雾暴露动物中这种病变的发病机制了解较少。为了填补这一知识空白,本方案对烟雾暴露小鼠的肺气肿发展和小气道纤维化进行量化。本方案使用全身暴露技术使小鼠暴露于香烟烟雾,然后测量小鼠的呼吸力学,将小鼠肺部充气至标准压力,并将肺固定在福尔马林中。然后,研究人员用吉尔氏染色法对肺切片进行染色,以测量平均肺泡弦长(作为肺气肿严重程度的指标)或用马松三色染色法测量小气道周围细胞外基质(ECM)蛋白的沉积(作为小气道纤维化的指标)。对分子途径对这两种肺部病变影响的研究将有助于更好地理解COPD的发病机制。