Is the lung parenchyma strip a true airway preparation?

Studies of human airways in vitro: a review of the methodology

The pathophysiology of human airway narrowing is only partly understood. In order to gain more insight in the mechanisms of human lung diseases and potential beneficial therapeutic agents, adequate models are needed. Animal airway models are of limited value since lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are unique to humans and because the mechanisms of airway narrowing differ between species. Therefore, it is important to perform studies on human isolated airways. We describe the models that have been developed to study airway function in vitro, emphasizing human airway preparations. The easily prepared airway strip and ring preparations are described first. The potential damage during preparation and the interference with airway structure are important drawbacks in these preparations. Lung parenchymal strips, described next, were designed in order to study responsiveness of small airways. However, parenchymal strips are anatomically complex, and responsiveness is determined by the relative amounts of airway and vascular smooth muscle. The lack of reproducibility between species and even within one animal limits their usefulness. Airway tube preparations, in which luminal and serosal stimulation can be separated, enable us to study the modulatory role of the airways epithelium in vitro. Furthermore, airway compliance can be measured. In the isolated perfused lung preparation, relationships between the airways and the vascular system are preserved and the interaction between these two systems can be studied. Weight gain due to fluid extravasation is a problem in this model which has not been used yet to study human lungs in vitro. Next, methodological aspects such as tissue handling and storage, recording of responses, removal of the epithelium, and electrical field stimulation are discussed in some detail. Although animal airways tissue can be studied immediately after removal, human tissue is often obtained with some delay. However, this seems tenable since electron microscopy of lung tissue obtained at autopsy showed that recovery of the preparation occurs during incubation of carbogenated Krebs-Henseleit (K-H) buffer. Dissected airways can be stored overnight in cooled K-H buffer until up to 55 hr after resection without losing viability. Commonly used physiological salt solutions which bath the tissue contain osmotic molecules, ions important for contractility, glucose as a substrate, and a bicarbonate-carbon dioxide buffer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The use of the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation in studies of the β-adrenoceptor adenylate cyclase system

The binding, adenylate cyclase activation, and functional effect of four beta-adrenoceptor agonists were studied in the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation and the results were compared with those obtained earlier in guinea-pig left-heart ventricle (beta 1-adrenoceptors) and soleus muscle (beta 2-adrenoceptors) preparations. The pKi-values of the unselective compounds, isoprenaline and orciprenaline, were in good agreement with those obtained in the heart and soleus muscle. The beta 2-adrenoceptor selective compounds KWD 2026 and terbutaline were bound to two sites, one corresponding to the beta 1-adrenoceptors and the other to the beta 2-adrenoceptors. The pKi-value of isoprenaline was in good agreement with its pKact-value indicating that maximum adenylate cyclase activity is obtained when the occupancy of the receptors is maximal. Further, the relative intrinsic efficacy calculated from the functional effect and receptor occupancy agreed well with the relative maximum adenylate cyclase activation by the agonists which was also found earlier for the guinea-pig heart ventricle and soleus muscle preparations. Relative effects were obtained from both functional experiments and from affinity and adenylate cyclase activating studies. There was good agreement between relative effects obtained in these two ways. It is concluded that the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation may be useful for the study of the beta-adrenoceptor adenylate cyclase system.

A lung perfusion technique for the detection of antigenic intrapulmonary bronchoconstriction and its mediation

A guinea pig intraluminal perfusion model was used to assess the effects of antigen challenge of airway reactivity and its pharmacologic modulation. Increases in airway perfusion pressure, following antigen provocation, could be reproduced 60 min later without significant modification of the response. We found no change in lung volume nor observed tissue edema following antigen provocation, and suggest that rises in perfusion pressure are due to decreases in airway caliber. Pharmacologically, the antihistamines, mepyramine and chlorpheniramine, and the antiallergic agent, disodium cromoglygate (DSCG), failed to inhibit antigenic bronchoconstriction. Indeed, mepyramine produced some potentiation of allergic bronchospasm. Compounds reported to inhibit 5-lipoxygenase (phenidone, benoxaprofen, and noradihydroguiaretic acid (NDGA)) or antagonize SRS-A (FPL 55712), produced inhibition of antigen-induced bronchoconstriction. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, produced biphasic modulation of antigenic bronchoconstriction, potentiation at low doses, and inhibition at high concentrations. Overall, drug-induced modulation of allergic bronchoconstriction suggests that this model more closely resembles the antigenic reactions observed in the parenchymal strip preparation than in the trachea.

Measurement of human small airway smooth muscle function in vitro with the bronchiolar strip preparation

The technique by which human bronchiolar strips are prepared is described in detail. The biological viability of the preparations after storage at 4 degrees C overnight and the reproducibility of contractile responses to KCl and methacholine were examined in lung tissue from six patients. Measurements were performed on the first and second day after surgical resection. On both days, most bronchioles showed an increase in contractility. The responses on the first day were not different from those on the second day. No significant changes in time were found for pD2 and slope of the methacholine dose-response curves. The variability of responses between patients was significantly larger than between strips within patients. The pD2 was the best reproducible parameter.

Bronchodilator and antiallergy activity of forskolin

Forskolin is a diterpene from the roots of Coleus forskohli which directly activates the adenylate cyclase and raises cyclic AMP levels in a variety of tissues. Forskolin was studied for its effects on the tone of airway smooth muscle and the immunologic release of leukotrienes and histamine. The bronchospasm induced by inhaled antigen in sensitized guinea pigs was prevented in a dose-related fashion by the intravenous (i.v.) or intratracheal administration of forskolin. Forskolin was more potent than aminophylline and less potent than salbutamol. There was no evidence that forskolin would potentiate the in vivo bronchodilator effects of either salbutamol or aminophylline. Forskolin was approximately 100 times more potent than aminophylline by the i.v. and intratracheal routes to reverse an established allergic bronchospasm. Forskolin given intratracheally also inhibited the bronchospasm to i.v. histamine, with a short duration of action. In vitro forskolin (less than 1 microM) inhibited contractions of lung parenchyma provoked by histamine, LTC4 or antigen. Forskolin (1 microM) also inhibited the immunologically stimulated release of LTD4 and histamine from sensitized guinea pig lung. These studies show that forskolin shares with other agents that elevate cyclic AMP levels the ability to relax airway smooth muscle and inhibit mediator release in vitro and elicit a bronchodilation in vivo.

Histamine and carbachol contractile responses in proximal and distal airways of the rabbit

Airway preparations from the trachea, main bronchi, subsegmental bronchi and the parenchyma of rabbits were studied. The proximal airways, the trachea and main bronchi, were less sensitive to histamine than the distal airways of the subsegmental bronchi and lung parenchymal strip. The proximal airways were more sensitive to carbachol than the distal airways. These results may assist in the interpretation of airway responses in vivo.

The effects of arachidonic acid and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on intrapulmonary airways of the guinea-pig

A method is described in which changes in intrapulmonary airway tone of guinea-pig isolated lungs are reflected by changes in intraluminal perfusion pressure. A supramaximal dose of arachidonic acid (AA) (61 microM) was found to have little on no action on baseline perfusion pressure. However, following elevation of perfusion pressure with histamine, AA caused a dose-dependent pressure decrease. This was also mimicked by prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and PGE2. AA induced a reduction of histamine elevated perfusion pressure which was inhibited, dose-dependently, by several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents including indomethacin, phenylbutazone, aspirin, benoxaprofen, BW755C and phenidone. Their respective rank order of potency appeared to correlate with their activity against microsomal cyclo-oxygenase. Indomethacin, phenylbutazone and aspirin induced augmentation of the elevated perfusion pressure due to histamine, whereas BW755C did not. We suggest that the primary arachidonate metabolite present in intrapulmonary airways following histamine-induced constriction is probably a relaxant of the E series. However, our data suggest that both cyclo-oxygenase and lipoxygenase products are associated with the maintenance of airway tone.

Autacoid and autonomic reactivity of sheep lung parenchymal strip and its modification by antigenic sensitization

Lung parenchymal strips (LPS) of horse plasma-sensitized and control sheep were studied isometrically in isolated organ baths and their responses to autacoid and autonomic agents were compared. Control LPS responded with contractions to histamine greater than carbachol greater than 5HT and relaxed to isoproterenol greater than adrenaline greater than phenylephrine. In sensitized LPS, adrenaline and phenylephrine-induced relaxations were converted to contractions and a new order of potency and efficacy for spasmogens was observed i.e. histamine greater than carbachol greater than adrenaline greater than phenylephrine greater than 5HT. Isoproterenol was also significantly (P less than 0.05) less potent and less effective in relaxing sensitized LPS compared to controls. Mepyramine, atropine and propranolol competitively antagonized their respective agonists (i.e. histamine, carbachol and isoproterenol) confirming the presence of H1-histaminergic, muscarinic-cholinergic and beta-adrenergic receptors respectively. The conversion of the relaxant effect of adrenaline and phenylephrine to a contraction supplemented by a significant reduction in isoproterenol activity suggests an impairment in the effective ratio of beta: alpha adrenoceptors in ovine LPS subsequent to antigenic sensitization.