Key Points
Innovative 4D microscopy reveals lung tissue regeneration mechanisms
50% of premature infants develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Mouse lung repair offers potential treatment insights
New imaging technique tracks cellular lung development
A new study suggests that understanding resilience--the ability of injured lung tissue to heal and regenerate--may be key to advancing the treatment and prevention of life-threatening lung disease in extremely premature babies.
Using a four-dimensional microscopy technique, researchers at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have created 3D video images of mouse lung tissue grown in the laboratory.
"For the first time, we've been able to live-image the lung as it forms, and quantify and measure those cellular movements that come together to make an organ with a surface area large enough for gas exchange," said Jennifer Sucre, MD, associate professor of Pediatrics and Cell and Developmental Biology.
The group's findings, published Feb. 24 as the cover article in JCI Insight, the journal of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, represent a significant step toward improved treatment and prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), which occurs in about 50% of infants born two to four months prematurely.
"If we can understand how the lung forms, then we have a blueprint for how to grow new lungs after injury," said the paper's first author, Nick Negretti, PhD, a senior post-doctoral fellow in the Sucre lab who co-led the research.
"Mice have an extraordinary ability to repair the lung," said Sucre, the paper's senior author, who directs the Biodevelopmental Origins of Lung Disease (BOLD) Center at VUMC. "I want to give babies the superpower of the mouse."
Premature babies with BPD require oxygen and mechanical ventilation in the early days after birth to help them breathe. Oxygen therapy is a double-edged sword because it also can damage delicate lung tissue.
The innovative technology implemented by the Sucre lab allows for testing and identification of the specific molecules and pathways that guide this process. It is also a discovery tool for drugs promoting tissue regeneration after injury.
