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Updated: Jun 18, 2025
Experimental Model to Evaluate Resolution of Pneumonia
Published on: February 17, 2023
Post-COVID pulmonary injury in K18-hACE2 mice shows persistent neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular trap
Stefanos Giannakopoulos1, Juwon Park2, Jin Pak2
1Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
Abstract:
The involvement of neutrophils in the lungs during the recovery phase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not well defined mainly due to the limited accessibility of lung tissues from COVID-19 survivors. The lack of an appropriate small animal model has affected the development of effective therapeutic strategies. We here developed a long COVID mouse model to study changes in neutrophil phenotype and association with lung injury. Our data shows persistent neutrophil recruitment and neutrophil extracellular trap formation in the lungs for up to 30 days post-infection which correlates with lung fibrosis and inflammation.
