title: On the preparation of lung strip for tissue mechanics measurement.
abstract: It is widely believed that it is fundamental to degas and/or rinse the lung prior to the measurement of the tissue mechanics, so that the undesirable effects of surfactant and localized gas trapping are eliminated. However, one could hypothesize that these mechanisms are bound to disappear in the in vitro preparation since the small tissue sample remains suspended oscillating in an organ bath. To investigate the real necessity to follow these procedures, dynamic mechanical properties were studied in strips of lungs previously rinsed with saline, degassed by ventilation with 100% O(2), or without any of these prior procedures. Resistance, elastance, hysteresivity, and the amounts of airway, blood vessel, and alveolar wall were computed. There was no difference in either tissue mechanics or morphology among the groups. In conclusion, the time-consuming degassing and rinsing steps are not necessary to adequately prepare lung tissue for in vitro mechanical analysis, and eliminating these steps potentially helps preserving the intact microstructure of the tissue.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Respiration Physiology, Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute, Ilha do Fundão Centro de Ciencias da Saude, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 21949-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Henrique
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Leite-Júnior
authors.forename: Patricia R M
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Rocco
authors.forename: Débora S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Faffe
authors.forename: Pablo V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Walter A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Zin
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology; D001981:Bronchial Arteries / Q000502:physiology; D004548:Elasticity; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical