Phenotyping Mouse Pulmonary Function In Vivo with the Lung Diffusing Capacity

Summary

We describe a means to quickly and simply measure the lung diffusing capacity in mice and show that it is sufficiently sensitive to phenotype changes in multiple common lung pathologies. This metric thus brings direct translational relevance to the mouse models, since diffusing capacity is also easily measured in humans.

Abstract

The mouse is now the primary animal used to model a variety of lung diseases. To study the mechanisms that underlie such pathologies, phenotypic methods are needed that can quantify the pathologic changes. Furthermore, to provide translational relevance to the mouse models, such measurements should be tests that can easily be done in both humans and mice. Unfortunately, in the present literature few phenotypic measurements of lung function have direct application to humans. One exception is the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide, which is a measurement that is routinely done in humans. In the present report, we describe a means to quickly and simply measure this diffusing capacity in mice. The procedure involves brief lung inflation with tracer gases in an anesthetized mouse, followed by a 1 min gas analysis time. We have tested the ability of this method to detect several lung pathologies, including emphysema, fibrosis, acute lung injury, and influenza and fungal lung infections, as well as monitoring lung maturation in young pups. Results show significant decreases in all the lung pathologies, as well as an increase in the diffusing capacity with lung maturation. This measurement of lung diffusing capacity thus provides a pulmonary function test that has broad application with its ability to detect phenotypic structural changes with most of the existing pathologic lung models.

Introduction

The mouse is now the primary animal used to model a variety of lung diseases. To study the mechanisms that underly such pathologies, phenotypic methods are needed that can quantify the it the pathologic changes. Although there are many mouse studies where ventilation mechanics are measured, these measurements are generally unrelated to the standard assessments of pulmonary function normally done in humans. This is unfortunate, since the ability to perform equivalent measurements in mice and human subjects may facilitate the translation of results in mouse models to human disease.

One of the most common and easily made measurements in human ....

Protocol

NOTE: All animal protocols were approved by the Johns Hopkins University Animal Care and Use Committee.

1. Animal Preparation

1. Prepare 6 C57BL/6 control mice for the DFCO measurement, by anesthetizing them with ketamine and xylazine as outlined in step 2.3 below.
2. Prepare all of the other mice with the different lung pathologies shown in Table 1 by using the same procedure as for the controls. Specific details needed to establish each of these models are found in the relevant references. Control mice and those in the other pathologic cohorts are all 6-12 weeks of age.

2. ....

Results

Figure 1 shows the DFCO measurements from the adult mice in groups A, B, C, D, E, and F. There were significant decreases with both the Aspergillus and influenza infections, as well as significant decreases in the fibrotic, emphysematous, and acute lung injury models. Figure 2 shows the Group G developmental changes in DFCO over time as the mice age from 2-6 weeks. There was a slight but significant increase with lung development over this time course. The effect of using a smaller infla.......

Discussion

In the present work, we defined a new metric to quantify the gas exchanging ability of the mouse lung. This metric is analogous to the diffusing capacity, a common clinical measurement that measures the primary function of the lung, that is, its ability to exchange gas. The diffusing capacity is the only lung functional measurement that can be easily and quickly done in both mice and humans. For the detection of lung disease in mice, a major objective is to quantify changes in lung function between control and experiment.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Gas Chromatograph	Inficon	Micro GC Model 3000A	Agilent makes a comparable model
18 G Luer stub needle	Becton Dickenson		Several other possible vendors
3 ml plastic syringe	Becton Dickenson		Several other possible vendors
Polypropylene gas sample bags	SKC	1 or 2 L capacity works well	Other gas tight bags will work well
Gas tank, 0.3% Ne, 0.3% CO, balance air; (size ME)	Airgas, Inc	Z04 NI785ME3012	This is the standard mixture used for DLCO in humans
25 TCID50/mouse of influenza virus A/PR8 diluted in phosphate buffered saline.
Porcine pancreatic elastase	Elastin Products, Owensville, MO		5.4 U
Bleomycin	APP Pharmaceuticals, Schaumburg, IL		0.25 U
Escherichia coli LPS	Sigma L2880		3 μg/g body weight; O55:B5
Aspergillus fumigatus (isolate Af293) conidia were collected from mature colonies grown on potato dextrose agar.