Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2025
Precision Cut Lung Slices as an Efficient Tool for Ex vivo Pulmonary Vessel Structure and Contractility Studies
Published on: May 24, 2021
An optimized protocol for generating fibrotic murine precision-cut lung slices
Stefanos Smyrniotis1, Paraskevi Kanellopoulou1, Christiana Magkrioti1
1Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research, Biomedical Sciences Research Center "Alexander Fleming," Athens 16672, Greece.
Abstract:
Precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs) offer significant advantages over both in vivo animal models and in vitro cell models, making them invaluable tools in respiratory research. Here, we present a protocol for generating fibrotic mouse PCLSs (mPCLSs), which offer the same benefits as human PCLSs but bypass issues of human tissue availability and related ethical concerns while also enhancing experimental homogeneity and reproducibility. This protocol details the steps for bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis, PCLS generation, visualization, and downstream analysis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Barbayianni et al.1.
Insights
This study introduces a protocol for creating fibrotic mouse lung slices (mPCLSs). This model offers a reproducible alternative to animal and cell models for respiratory research, overcoming human tissue limitations.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary research
- Tissue engineering
- Fibrosis modeling
Background:
- Precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs) are valuable tools in respiratory research, offering advantages over traditional in vivo animal and in vitro cell models.
- Human PCLS availability and ethical considerations can limit their use.
- Need for standardized and reproducible models in pulmonary fibrosis research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a detailed protocol for generating fibrotic mouse PCLSs (mPCLSs).
- To establish mPCLSs as a viable alternative to human PCLSs, addressing tissue availability and ethical concerns.
- To enhance experimental homogeneity and reproducibility in pulmonary fibrosis studies.
Main Methods:
- Induction of pulmonary fibrosis in mice using bleomycin (BLM).
- Generation of precision-cut lung slices from fibrotic mouse lungs.
- Visualization and downstream analysis techniques for mPCLSs.
Main Results:
- Successful generation of fibrotic mouse PCLSs (mPCLSs).
- Demonstrated benefits of mPCLSs comparable to human PCLSs.
- Enhanced experimental homogeneity and reproducibility achieved.
Conclusions:
- The developed protocol provides a robust method for creating fibrotic mouse PCLSs.
- mPCLSs serve as an advantageous model for studying pulmonary fibrosis, overcoming limitations of human tissue models.
- This approach supports reproducible and ethically sound respiratory research.
