Published in

American Physiological Society, American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 3(322), p. L401-L411, 2022

DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00341.2021

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

µCT to quantify muco-obstructive lung disease and effects of neutrophil elastase knockout in mice

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Muco-obstructive lung diseases are characterized by airway obstruction and hyperinflation, which can be quantified by imaging. Our aim was to evaluate µCT for longitudinal quantification of muco-obstructive lung disease in β-epithelial Na+ channel overexpressing ( Scnn1b-TG) mice and of the effects of neutrophil elastase (NE) knockout on its progression. Lungs from wild-type (WT), NE−/−, Scnn1b-TG, and Scnn1b-TG/NE−/− mice were scanned with 9-µm resolution at 0, 5, 14, and 60 days of age, and airway and parenchymal disease was quantified. Mucus adhesion lesions (MAL) were persistently increased in Scnn1b-TG compared with WT mice from 0 days (20.25 ± 6.50 vs. 9.60 ± 2.07, P < 0.05), and this effect was attenuated in Scnn1b-TG/NE−/− mice (5.33 ± 3.67, P < 0.001). Airway wall area percentage (WA%) was increased in Scnn1b-TG mice compared with WT from 14 days onward (59.2 ± 6.3% vs. 49.8 ± 9.0%, P < 0.001) but was similar in Scnn1b-TG/NE−/− compared with WT at 60 days (46.4 ± 9.2% vs. 45.4 ± 11.5%, P = 0.97). Air proportion (Air%) and mean linear intercept ( Lm) were persistently increased in Scnn1b-TG compared with WT from 5 days on (53.9 ± 4.5% vs. 30.0 ± 5.5% and 78.82 ± 8.44 µm vs. 65.66 ± 4.15 µm, respectively, P < 0.001), whereas in Scnn1b-TG/NE−/−, Air% and Lm were similar to WT from birth (27.7 ± 5.5% vs. 27.2 ± 5.9%, P = 0.92 and 61.48 ± 9.20 µm vs. 61.70 ± 6.73 µm, P = 0.93, respectively). Our results suggest that µCT is sensitive to detect the onset and progression of muco-obstructive lung disease and effects of genetic deletion of NE on morphology of airways and lung parenchyma in Scnn1b-TG mice, and that it may serve as a sensitive endpoint for preclinical studies of novel therapeutic interventions for muco-obstructive lung diseases.