A Mouse Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis Induced by Nasal Bleomycin Nebulization

Summary

Various animal models of pulmonary fibrosis have been established using bleomycin to clarify the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis and find new drug targets. However, most pulmonary fibrosis models targeting lung tissue have uneven drug administration. Here, we propose a model of uniform pulmonary fibrosis induced by nasal bleomycin nebulization.

Abstract

Pulmonary fibrosis is characteristic of several human lung diseases that arise from various causes. Given that treatment options are fairly limited, mouse models continue to be an important tool for developing new anti-fibrotic strategies. In this study, intrapulmonary administration of bleomycin (BLM) is carried out by nasal nebulization to create a mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis that closely mimics clinical disease characteristics. C57BL/6 mice received BLM (7 U/mL, 30 min/day) by nasal nebulization for 3 consecutive days and were sacrificed on day 9, 16, or 23 to observe inflammatory and fibrotic changes in lung tissue. Nasal aerosolized BLM directly targeted the lungs, resulting in widespread and uniform lung inflammation and fibrosis. Thus, we successfully generated an experimental mouse model of typical human pulmonary fibrosis. This method could easily be used to study the effects of the administration of various nasal aerosols on lung pathophysiology and validate new anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic treatments.

Introduction

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive disease process in which excessive deposition of extracellular matrix components, primarily type I collagen, in the interstitium of the lungs leads to impaired lung function¹. The pathophysiology of pulmonary fibrosis is complex, and treatment options are currently quite limited. Mouse models remain an important tool to study the pathogenic mechanisms that contribute to the emergence and progression of the disease, as well as new strategies for drug development.

A variety of animal models of pulmonary fibrosis rely on intratracheal instillation of BLM^{2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12}. However, the distribution of fibrotic changes that BLM causes in the lungs is not uniform, and the animals are at risk of asphyxiation during the instillation process. Although intraperitoneal injection of BLM induces relatively uniform fibrotic changes in the lung, it requires multiple doses because of insufficient drug targeting. Intratracheal aerosol administration via a laryngoscope does not require tracheotomy or puncture, and the resulting drug distribution within the lung is optimal. However, the aerosolized particles are large (5-40 µm), and thus cannot reach the subpleural area of the lung tissue.

In this study, intrapulmonary administration of BLM is carried out by nasal nebulization. During nebulization, the mice breathed spontaneously and inhaled the drug particles. The aerosolized particles were 2.5-4 µm in size, which enabled them not only to distribute evenly throughout the lung but also to reach the subpleural area. Under low magnification, the most significant lung histopathological features of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are the varying severity of lesions, inconsistent distribution, alternating distribution of different phase lesions, and the presence of interstitial inflammation, fibrotic lesions, and honeycomb lung changes, alternating with normal lung tissue. These pathological changes predominantly involve the peripheral subpleural parenchyma or lobular septum around the bronchioli. Thus, given that this approach enables BLM particles to reach the subpleural area of the lungs, this model closely simulates the clinical characteristics of the disease in humans.

Protocol

The Animal Studies Committee of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital (Beijing, China) approved all of the procedures involving mice that were performed as part of this study (NO.190108). Mice were kept in the sterile animal room of the China-Japan Friendship Clinical Medical Research Institute, with a room temperature of 20-25 °C, relative humidity of 40%-70%, animal light intensity of 15-20 LX, and alternating light and dark for 12 h/12 h. Animals had free access to food and water. …

Representative Results

Lung injury was induced by nebulized BLM, and the control animals were nebulized with the same volume of normal saline. The mice were nebulized once a day for 3 days, 30 min per day, using a BLM concentration of 7 U/mL. Mice were sacrificed on days 9, 16, and 23 after BLM administration for H&E staining (Figure 2B). Diffused pneumonic lesions with loss of the normal alveolar architecture, septal thickening, enlarged alveoli, and increased infiltration of inflammatory cells into the interstitial and p…

Discussion

Intratracheal injection of bleomycin results in an acute inflammatory and fibrotic response in both lungs and can be considered an effective approach to establish an experimental mouse model of human interstitial lung disease. Intratracheal administration is the most commonly used route of administration^{2,3,4,5,6,7,</sup…}

Materials

bleomycin	Bioway/Nippon Kayaku Co Ltd	DP721	Fibrosis model drugs
0.9% saline for injection	Baxter Healthcare(Tianjin)Co.,Ltd.		Bleomycin preparation
1 mL syringe	BD	300481	Anesthetize animals
10% neutral formalin buffer	TechaLab Biotech Company		Fix lung tissue
15 mL centrifuge tube	corning	430790	Prepare for anesthesia
20 °C refrigerator	New-fly group	BCD-213K	Store drugs
4 °C refrigerator	New-fly group	BCD-213K	Store drugs
Adobe illustrator cc2020	Adobe		Process images
blue back liquid	Beijing Chemical Works		tissue staining
clean bench	Suzhou Sujie Purifying Equipment Co.,Ltd.		Bleomycin preparation
differentiation fluid	Beijing Chemical Works		tissue staining
Electronic balance	METTLER TOLEDO	AA-160	Prepare for anesthesia
eosin stain	Beijing Yili Fine Chemicals Co,Ltd.		tissue staining
Heating pad	HIDOM		Mice incubation
hematoxylin stain	Beijing Yili Fine Chemicals Co,Ltd.		tissue staining
phosphate buffered saline (PBS) buffer	Hyclone	SH30256.01	Clean lung tissue
Photoshop drawing software	Adobe		Process images
SCIREQ INEXPOSE	EMKA Biotech Beijing Co.,Ltd.		Atomizing device
Upright fluorescence microscope	Olympus	BX53	Observe the slice