A Minimally Invasive Method for Intratracheal Instillation of Drugs in Neonatal Rodents to Treat Lung Disease

Summary

This technique of instilling drugs directly into the trachea of neonatal rodents is important in studying the impact of locally administered drugs or biologicals on neonatal lung diseases. Additionally, this method can also be used for inducing lung injury in animal models.

Abstract

Treatment of neonatal rodent with drugs instilled directly into the trachea could serve as a valuable tool to study the impact of a locally administered drug. This has direct translational impact because surfactant and drugs are administered locally into the lungs. Though the literature has many publications describing minimally invasive transoral intubation of adult mice and rats in therapeutic experiments, this approach in neonatal rat pups is lacking. The small size of orotracheal region/pharynx in the pups makes visualization of laryngeal lumen (vocal cords) difficult, contributing to the variable success rate of intratracheal drug delivery. We hereby demonstrate effective oral intubation of neonatal rat pup - a technique that is non-traumatic and minimally-invasive, so that it can be used for serial administration of drugs. We used an operating otoscope with an illumination system and a magnifying lens to visualize the tracheal opening of the rat neonates. The drug is then instilled using a 1 mL syringe connected to a pipette tip. The accuracy of the delivery method was demonstrated using Evans blue dye administration. This method is easy to get trained in and could serve as an effective way to instill drugs into trachea. This method could also be used for administration of inoculum or agents to simulate disease conditions in animals and, also, for cell-based treatment strategies for various lung diseases.

Introduction

Neonates born prematurely have poorly developed lungs requiring many interventional therapies such as long-term ventilation. These interventions place the surviving neonates at a high risk of subsequent sequelae¹. Experimental animal models serve as an important tool in simulating various disease conditions, studying the pathobiology of diseases, and evaluating therapeutic interventions. Even though a broad range of animal models from mice, rat, and rabbit to pre-term lambs and pigs are available, mice and rat are the most used.

The primary advantage of using mice and rats are the relatively short gestation period a....

Protocol

All experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol # 2020-0035) at the Case Western Reserve University. All animals were treated in accordance with the NIH guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.

1. Animals

1. Commercially obtain pregnant Sprague Dawley rats.
2. Maintain animals at an approved veterinary facility with 14 h/10 h light-dark cycle and 45-60% relative humidity.

2. Preparation of test compound

1. Use Evans blue dye as the test compound to assess the efficacy of the intratracheal instillation procedure.
2. Pre....

Results

The instillation of Evans blue revealed multifocal distribution of the dye involving all pulmonary lobes (Figure 4A,B). Our result as shown in Figure 4 demonstrates efficacy of distribution to all lobes. The picture is taken immediately after ITI of the dye into the trachea. 100% efficacy was achieved in instilling the dye into the trachea followed by its spread into all the lobes on both sides. It is expected that the dye would spread further w.......

Discussion

Intratracheal instillation is an excellent method that offers several advantages over the existing methods for respiratory disease interventions as well as disease model development. It is a quick method and with experience, can be performed with an average speed of 2-3 minutes per animal. The key considerations for a successful intubation are proper sedation of the animal, it's correct positioning, especially the head, as well as accurate depth of placement/ size of the specula in the oropharynx. Proper sedation wou.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Evans Blue dye	Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA	314-13-6	Confirmation of drug administration into lungs
Ketamine Hydrochloride	Hospira. Inc, Lake Forest, IL, USA	Dispensed from Animal care facility	For sedation
Operating Otoscope	Welch Allyn, Hillrom, Chicago, IL, USA	21770- 3.5V	For visualization of vocal cords
Otoscope Rechargeable Handle	Welch Allyn, Hillrom, Chicago, IL, USA	71050-C
Pipette tip (Gel loading)	Fisherbrand	02-707-139	Administering the drug
Platform for restraining (inclined plane)	Animal care facility	Dispensed from Animal care facility	Wired roof of mice cage can be used
3M Micropore Surgical White Paper (sticking tape)	3M, St. Paul, MN, USA	1530-2
Luer Lock SyringeSyringes (1 ml)	BD Franklin Lakes, NJ , USA	NBD2515	Administering the drug
Xylazine	Hospira. Inc, Lake Forest, IL, USA		For sedation