Fraunhofer-Verbund Life Sciences
Fraunhofer-Verbund Life Sciences

Isolated Perfused Rat Lungs


Model of the Test System Isolated Perfused Rat Lung (IPL)

The Isolated Perfused Rat Lung (IPL) model simulates whole organ exposure to inhalable or i.v.-administered substances. Test substances can originate from any source (medication, chemicals, environmental pollutants, etc.). Aerosol generation can be done from solid or liquid material and is conducted with extrapolation to the model lung.

The model allows constant blood gas analysis and data acquisition of common respiratory parameters (TV, Resistance, Cdyn). IPL data can be used to assess acute inhalation toxicity, substance kinetics or administration efficacy.

Species

Rat

Fields of application

  • Airway Immune system incl. inflammation
  • Safety of inhalable chemicals
  • Cardiovascular system
  • Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics
  • Therapeutic efficacy testing (inhalable or systemically applied drugs)

Endpoints/Outcome parameter

  • Inhalation toxicity
  • Transfer kinetics of drugs / substances / particles
  • Inflammation
  • Efficacy measurements of drugs
  • Pathophysiology, e.g. pulmonary edema / atelectasis formation

Readout parameter

  • Respiratory parameters (e.g. TV, Cdyn, Res)
  • Blood gases (pH, pO2, pCO2)
  • Lung weight
  • Biochemical analysis in lung tissue, perfusate, bronchioalveolar lavage fluid
  • Substance / metabolite analysis in perfusate (e.g. HPLC, GC-MS)
  • Veterinary pathological testing
  • Staining and tissue pathohistology/conventional microscopy
  • Immunohistochemistry / fluorescence microscopy
  • Confocal microscopy
  • Electron microscopy
  • FACS

Quality management and validation

  • Controls
  • Blinded data collection and evaluation

References

  • Fischer M., Koch W., Windt H., Dasenbrock C.: A pilot study on the refinement of acute inhalation toxicity studies: the isolated perfused rat lung as a screening tool for surface-active substances. In: Altern Lab Anim. 2012 Sep;40(4):199-209.

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