Precision cut lung slices provide a model system to study various aspects of airway and lung physiology and pathophysiology.
From human or animal tissue, the aspects that can be recapitulated include airway narrowing, emphysema and alveolar repair, airway remodeling and inflammation.

Advantages of ex vivo lung slices include:
-Natural architecture of the slices
-Preservation of cell-cell contacts and cell-matrix interactions
-Reduction of number of animals needed
-Direct comparison of experimental treatments with a control from the same animal or patient.

There are numerous possibilities for studies with ex vivo lung slices.
Feel free to Contact us with your specific questions. And see how we can implement your compound in one of our ex vivo lung slice models.

Want to know the impact of your compound on airway airway narrowing or pulmonary vascular? At Aquilo we can achieve that by using time lapse video microscopy .

We are also able to investigate the efficacy of your compound against contraction induced by electrical field stimulation i.e. vagal stimulation.

See what we have achieved with several bronchodilators. See publication

Growth factors, including TGF-β, induce airway remodeling in obstructive airway diseases. In lung slices, exposure to a special fibrosis cocktail for 48h, induces airway smooth muscle remodeling and excessive extracellular matrix deposition. We have shown efficacy of PDE4 and HDAC inhibitors in this model. See publication

Elastase breaks down elastin, a structural component of lung tissue, and thereby contributes to emphysema in COPD. In lung slices, exposure to elastase induces emphysema, assessed by an increase in mean linear intercept, and affects airway narrowing and markers of alveolar type I and type II cells. This can be partially prevented by WNT stimulation. See publication

Exposure to cytokines, including IL-1β, induces an inflammatory response in lung slices. Although there is clearly no circulation, resident macrophages are present in the lung slices. Increased IL-8 release can be prevented by corticosteroids. See publication

  • Airway narrowing
  • Type II cell number
  • Emphysema by mean linear intercept
  • Gene expression patterns
  • Smooth muscle and extracellular matrix remodelling using Western Blot and histology
  • Inflammation using ELISA

Additional read-outs are available on request.

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