Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a pediatric respiratory disorder that affects preterm infants who experienced respiratory distress. The distress can be treated with artificial surfactant administration and hyperoxia which leads to impaired growth of the lung due. BPD will begin to manifest as inflammation and vascular changes in the lungs¹.

A common model of preclinical BPD uses hyperoxic exposure an early stage of life to alter the development of the subject’s lungs. Using conscious, unrestrained term or preterm subjects in a whole body plethysmography chamber allows for longitudinal measurements of ventilatory parameters, while also enabling controlled mixing and delivery of gases to generate a reproducible hyperoxic environment. Whole body plethysmography provides an ideal set-up to generate a model and track changes in the ventilatory parameters simultaneously.

Hyperoxia induced BPD leads to airway remodeling and airway hyperresponsiveness in early adulthood². Changes in the tissue properties of the subject can reflect changes due to the effects of hyperoxia on lung development³. The flexiVent is a small animal ventilator that measures detailed respiratory mechanics. With the use of an integrated nebulizer, automated dose responses capturing the mechanical properties of the lung can separate naïve and BPD subjects, and potentially show separation within the treated groups due to disease severity.

Once exposed to hyperoxia at early stages of life, subjects are more likely to develop pulmonary hypertension as the changes in lung growth add strains on the cardiovascular system⁴. By measuring right ventricular pressure (RVP) through catheterization and quantifying the Pressure-Volume (PV) loops of the RVP, the severity of the associated pulmonary hypertension can be measured.

The emka & SCIREQ team will be attending the American Thoracic Society’s 2017 conference in Washington, D.C.! Come visit our booth #1731 and speak with our experienced team about our solutions for preclinical pediatric research.

1 Caffeine Prevents Hyperoxia-Induced Functional and Structural Lung Damage in Preterm Rabbits – Toelen et al. Neonatology. 109:274, 2016
2 Characteristics of asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness after premature birth – Oymar et al. Pediatr Allergy Immunol., 16: 487, 2005
3 Neonatal Hyperoxia Causes Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Shortens Life Span in Aging Mice – O’Reilly et al. Am J Physiol., 17:2601, 2011
4 Inhaled nitric oxide attenuates pulmonary hypertension and improves lung growth in infant rats after neonatal treatment with a VEGF receptor inhibitor – Abman et al. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 283:L555, 2002