科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
Background: Significant mortality and morbidity are associated with alterations in the pulmonary vasculature. While techniques have been described for quantitative morphometry of whole-lung arterial trees in larger animals, no methods have been described in mice. We report a method for the quantitative assessment of murine pulmonary arterial vasculature using high-resolution computed tomography scanning. Methods: Mice were harvested at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 3 months of age. The pulmonary artery vascular tree was pressure perfused to maximal dilation with a radio-opaque casting material with viscosity and pressure set to prevent capillary transit and venous filling. The lungs were fixed and scanned on a specimen computed tomography scanner at 8-mm resolution, and the vessels were segmented. Vessels were grouped into categories based on lumen diameter and branch generation. Results: Robust high-resolution segmentation was achieved, permitting detailed quantitation of pulmonary vascular morphometrics. As expected, postnatal lung development was associated with progressive increase in small-vessel number and arterial branching complexity. Conclusions: These methods for quantitative analysis of the pulmonary vasculature in postnatal and adult mice provide a useful tool for the evaluation of mouse models of disease that affect the pulmonary vasculature.
- 出版日期2017-1
