A simplified method for bronchoalveolar lavage in mice by orotracheal intubation avoiding tracheotomy

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) represents an important method to sample immune cells and soluble substances from the lungs of humans and animals suffering from respiratory disease. The mouse is the most commonly used model organism to study lung disease. Performing BAL in mice is difficult due to their small size and the currently used method requires tracheotomy, a complex and time-consuming procedure. Here, we describe a simple alternative procedure that avoids this step. To perform the BAL, a rigid, olive tip cannula is inserted from the mouth into the trachea under visual inspection. This novel method requires minimal training, is simple, fast, inexpensive and should be useful for researchers studying mouse models of human lung disease.