A model of chronic lung allograft rejection in the rat

Bronchiolitis obliterans, the pathological hallmark of chronic pulmonary rejection, severely impacts long-term survival following lung transplantation. However, experimental reproduction of this pathophysiological phenomenon has not been achieved with contemporary in vivo models. Here, a model of chronic rejection is described, with sensitised recipients receiving unilateral orthotopic rat lung transplants. Lewis rats, sensitised with skin from brown Norway rats 7 days before receiving left lung transplants from donors that were Lewis x brown Norway F(1) hybrids, were analysed during day 21-84. The development of chronic rejection was modulated by a treatment with rapamycin and cyclosporin, and characterised histologically, immunohistochemically and by reverse transcriptase PCR. Characteristic histopathological changes leading to chronic rejection were induced over time by an initial treatment with cyclosporin in the presence of continuous rapamycin application. At day 84, fibrotic lesions replaced the respiratory epithelium within small bronchioles, with strong expression of smooth muscle alpha-actin and upregulation of mRNA for T-helper cell type-1 cytokines, smooth muscle alpha-actin, transforming growth factor-beta and CC chemokine ligand 5, but decreased forkhead box protein P3 gene expression. A reproducible and clinically relevant experimental set-up for progressive chronic rejection in rat pulmonary allografts is described. This model will permit better understanding of the pathological changes of small airways during the development of bronchiolitis obliterans, and may serve as an in vivo set-up for testing the efficacy of novel therapeutic interventions.