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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps: How to Generate and Visualize Them
Published on: February 24, 2010
Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Are Pathogenic in Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury and Partially Dependent on TLR4
Haosi Li1, Pinhua Pan1, Xiaoli Su1
1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China.
Abstract:
The pathogenesis of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) is associated with neutrophils. Neutrophils release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which are composed of DNA and granular proteins. However, the role of NETs in VILI remains incompletely understood. Normal saline and deoxyribonuclease (DNase) were used to study the role of NETs in VILI. To further determine the role of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in NETosis, we evaluated the lung injury and NET formation in TLR4 knockout mice and wild-type mice that were mechanically ventilated. Some measures of lung injury and the NETs markers were significantly increased in the VILI group. DNase treatment markedly reduced NETs markers and lung injury. After high-tidal mechanical ventilation, the NETs markers in the TLR4 KO mice were significantly lower than in the WT mice. These data suggest that NETs are generated in VILI and pathogenic in a mouse model of VILI, and their formation is partially dependent on TLR4.
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