Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.

During infectious disease, pathogen load drives inflammation and immune response that together contribute to tissue injury often resulting in organ dysfunction. Pulmonary failure in SARS-CoV2-infected hospitalized COVID-19 patients is one such prominent example. Intervention strategies require chara...

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Main Authors: Pratyusha Mandal, John D Lyons, Eileen M Burd, Michael Koval, Edward S Mocarski, Craig M Coopersmith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246270&type=printable
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author Pratyusha Mandal
John D Lyons
Eileen M Burd
Michael Koval
Edward S Mocarski
Craig M Coopersmith
author_facet Pratyusha Mandal
John D Lyons
Eileen M Burd
Michael Koval
Edward S Mocarski
Craig M Coopersmith
author_sort Pratyusha Mandal
collection DOAJ
description During infectious disease, pathogen load drives inflammation and immune response that together contribute to tissue injury often resulting in organ dysfunction. Pulmonary failure in SARS-CoV2-infected hospitalized COVID-19 patients is one such prominent example. Intervention strategies require characterization of the host-pathogen interaction by accurately assessing all of the above-mentioned disease parameters. To study infection in intact mammals, mice are often used as essential genetic models. Due to humane concerns, there is a constant unmet demand to develop studies that reduce the number of mice utilized while generating objective data. Here, we describe an integrated method of evaluating lung inflammation in mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa or murine gammaherpesvirus (MHV)-68. This method conserves animal resources while permitting evaluation of disease mechanisms in both infection settings. Lungs from a single euthanized mouse were used for two purposes-biological assays to determine inflammation and infection load, as well as histology to evaluate tissue architecture. For this concurrent assessment of multiple parameters from a single euthanized mouse, we limit in-situ formalin fixation to the right lung of the cadaver. The unfixed left lung is collected immediately and divided into several segments for biological assays including determination of pathogen titer, assessment of infection-driven cytokine levels and appearance of cell death markers. In situ fixed right lung was then processed for histological determination of tissue injury and confirmation of infection-driven cell death patterns. This method reduces overall animal use and minimizes inter-animal variability that results from sacrificing different animals for different types of assays. The technique can be applied to any lung disease study in mice or other mammals.
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spelling doaj-art-a29f93cb0fe84b6992d31c454a7c8bf42025-08-20T03:00:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e024627010.1371/journal.pone.0246270Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.Pratyusha MandalJohn D LyonsEileen M BurdMichael KovalEdward S MocarskiCraig M CoopersmithDuring infectious disease, pathogen load drives inflammation and immune response that together contribute to tissue injury often resulting in organ dysfunction. Pulmonary failure in SARS-CoV2-infected hospitalized COVID-19 patients is one such prominent example. Intervention strategies require characterization of the host-pathogen interaction by accurately assessing all of the above-mentioned disease parameters. To study infection in intact mammals, mice are often used as essential genetic models. Due to humane concerns, there is a constant unmet demand to develop studies that reduce the number of mice utilized while generating objective data. Here, we describe an integrated method of evaluating lung inflammation in mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa or murine gammaherpesvirus (MHV)-68. This method conserves animal resources while permitting evaluation of disease mechanisms in both infection settings. Lungs from a single euthanized mouse were used for two purposes-biological assays to determine inflammation and infection load, as well as histology to evaluate tissue architecture. For this concurrent assessment of multiple parameters from a single euthanized mouse, we limit in-situ formalin fixation to the right lung of the cadaver. The unfixed left lung is collected immediately and divided into several segments for biological assays including determination of pathogen titer, assessment of infection-driven cytokine levels and appearance of cell death markers. In situ fixed right lung was then processed for histological determination of tissue injury and confirmation of infection-driven cell death patterns. This method reduces overall animal use and minimizes inter-animal variability that results from sacrificing different animals for different types of assays. The technique can be applied to any lung disease study in mice or other mammals.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246270&type=printable
spellingShingle Pratyusha Mandal
John D Lyons
Eileen M Burd
Michael Koval
Edward S Mocarski
Craig M Coopersmith
Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
PLoS ONE
title Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
title_full Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
title_fullStr Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
title_full_unstemmed Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
title_short Integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals.
title_sort integrated evaluation of lung disease in single animals
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246270&type=printable
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AT michaelkoval integratedevaluationoflungdiseaseinsingleanimals
AT edwardsmocarski integratedevaluationoflungdiseaseinsingleanimals
AT craigmcoopersmith integratedevaluationoflungdiseaseinsingleanimals