An acute reversible experimental model of pneumonia in pigs: time-related histological and clinical signs changes

The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term survival rates, clinical response, and lung gross and microscopic changes in pigs treated intratracheally with lipopolysaccharide of Escherichia coli 0111:B4 (LPS-Ec). Healthy pigs were randomly allocated to three groups: (i) no-LPS-Ec (n=1), (ii) LPS-Ec-T1 (1 mg/mL, 10 mL/pig) (n=7), and (iii) LPS-Ec-T2 (0.5 mg/mL, 10 mL/pig) (n=6). Two pigs from each dose group were euthanized at 24 (n=3 for T1), 48 and 144 h post-LPS-Ec challenge. LPS-Ec-treated animals showed macroscopic lesions in middle lobes of the lung. A reversible recruitment of macrophages and neutrophils was observed at 24, 48, and 144 h post-LPS-Ec challenge. The highest cellular infiltration level was observed at 24 h after challenge. The highest clinical scores were evident in both experimental dose levels within 3 and 5 h after LPS-Ec administration. Administration of LPS-Ec, under the conditions evaluated, can be used to induce a reproducible model of acute pulmonary inflammation in pigs.