0 조회수 • 3:07 분 • July 1st, 2026
Begin with an anesthetized rat placed on a rodent intubation stand. The rat’s front teeth are secured to the holder to stabilize the head.
Displace the tongue laterally and use a laryngoscope to visualize the tracheal opening.
Insert a catheter fitted with a blunted needle into the trachea. Then carefully remove the laryngoscope and needle.
Attach a filter-based breathing indicator. The movement of the filter confirms the catheter placement in the trachea.
Remove the indicator and deliver a pathogenic bacterial inoculum into the trachea.
Deliver air to distribute the bacteria into the lungs.
Remove the catheter and allow the rat to recover.
In the lungs, alveolar macrophages engulf the bacteria into phagosomes.
The bacteria disrupt the phagosomal membrane and escape into the cytoplasm.
They replicate, triggering the release of host signaling molecules and leading to inflammation.
This establishes a rat lung infection model for studying host–pathogen interactions.
After preparing F.tularensis inoculum and anesthetizing a rat according to the text protocol, place the rat dorsally on the rodent intubation stand.
Then attach the front teeth of the rat to the holder to keep the rat in place. With the dominant hand, use broad point dressing thumb forceps to move the tongue to the same side as the support hand. Using the support hand, secure the tongue with a laryngoscope against the rat's lower jaw to visualize the trachea and esophagus of the animal.
Next, insert the catheter containing the previously prepared 20-gauge blunted needle into the trachea. Remove the blunted needle from the catheter while ensuring the catheter remains in the trachea. Allow a few seconds to pass for the rat to be able to breathe around the catheter.
Firmly seat the trachea indicator onto the catheter opening. Movement of the aerosol barrier will indicate the catheter is inserted correctly into the trachea. Ensure that the rat is laying on the intubation stand such that the chest of the animal is facing perpendicular to the plane of the intubation stand.
Remove the trachea indicator and with a 200 microliter pipette tip firmly seated against the catheter opening, deliver 100 microliters of the inoculum containing F.tularensis. Attach a one milliliter slip tip tuberculin syringe filled with air and deliver 300 microliters of air to ensure inoculum reaches the lungs of the rat. Remove the catheter from the trachea and take the rat off of the surgical platform.