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Updated: Jun 30, 2025
A Rat Lung Transplantation Model of Warm Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury: Optimizations to Improve Outcomes
Published on: October 28, 2021
Effects of therapeutic hypercapnia on the expression and function of γδT cells in transplanted lungs in rats
Qing Xie1, Jia Lu2, XiaoGuang Cui3
1Department of Anesthesia, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of therapeutic hypercapnia on the expression and function of gamma delta T (γδ T) cells during ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) after lung transplantation.
Methods:
We randomly divided male Wistar rats into three groups (n = 6 in each group), the control group (group N), the IRI group (group I), and the therapeutic hypercapnia group (group H). We then assessed pulmonary edema, neutrophil infiltration, wet-to-dry (W/D) weight ratio, and microscopic histopathology and separately measured the levels of γδT cell surface antigen (TCR) and Interleukin-17 (IL-17) using flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).
Results:
The infiltration of neutrophils and the expression of TCR and IL-17 were significantly increased in the I group compared to the control, and the biopsy edema in group I was more severe. Arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) was decreased after reperfusion in group I compared with the control group. W/D weight ratio, neutrophil infiltration, and the expression of TCR and IL-17 decreased drastically in the H group compared to the I group.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that γδ T lymphocytes were directly involved in lung injury. In addition, therapeutic hypercapnia effectively reduced the expression of γδ T cells and IL-17, and this has the potential to become a treatment strategy for IRI and an intervention to improve lung function.
