Science and Research

Intravital microscopic optical coherence tomography imaging to assess mucus-mobilizing interventions for muco-obstructive lung disease in mice

Airway mucus obstruction is a hallmark of chronic lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, and COPD, and the development of more effective mucus-mobilizing therapies remains an important unmet need for patients with these muco-obstructive lung diseases. However, methods for sensitive visualization and quantitative assessment of immediate effects of therapeutic interventions on mucus clearance in vivo are lacking. In this study, we determined whether newly developed high-speed microscopic optical coherence tomography (mOCT) is sensitive to detect and compare in vivo effects of inhaled isotonic saline, hypertonic saline, and bicarbonate on mucus mobilization and clearance in Scnn1b-transgenic mice with muco-obstructive lung disease. In vivo mOCT imaging showed that inhaled isotonic saline-induced rapid mobilization of mucus that was mainly transported as chunks from the lower airways of Scnn1b-transgenic mice. Hypertonic saline mobilized a significantly greater amount of mucus that showed a more uniform distribution compared with isotonic saline. The addition of bicarbonate-to-isotonic saline had no effect on mucus mobilization, but also led to a more uniform mucus layer compared with treatment with isotonic saline alone. mOCT can detect differences in response to mucus-mobilizing interventions in vivo, and may thus support the development of more effective therapies for patients with muco-obstructive lung diseases.

  • Pieper, M.
  • Schulz-Hildebrandt, H.
  • Mall, M. A.
  • Huttmann, G.
  • Konig, P.

Keywords

  • Animals
  • *Disease Models, Animal
  • Epithelial Sodium Channels/*physiology
  • Humans
  • Intravital Microscopy/*methods
  • Lung Diseases, Obstructive/*diagnostic imaging/pathology/therapy
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • *Mucociliary Clearance
  • Mucus/*diagnostic imaging/physiology
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence/*methods
  • *intravital imaging
  • *muco-obstructive disease
  • *mucus
  • *mucus-mobilizing therapy
  • *optical coherence tomography
Publication details
DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00287.2019
Journal: Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
Pages: L518-L524 
Number: 3
Work Type: Original
Location: Assoziierter Partner, ARCN, TLRC
Disease Area: PLI
Partner / Member: BIH, RKU, UzL
Access-Number: 31994896
See publication on PubMed

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