Micro-in-One: an in vivo platform for the integrated pulmonary
microcirculatory profile in asthma
Abstract
Background: Asthma is a chronic airway disorder associated with
aberrant inflammatory, remodeling and angiogenesis, indicating that the
altered pulmonary microcirculatory may exist in the local and contribute
to the pathogenesis. There are rare studies in vivo, which could
directly prove the disorders of microcirculation in asthmatic lungs.
This study aimed to establish Micro-in-One platform and set up the first
profile of the integrated asthmatic pulmonary microcirculation.
Methods: Using murine models of asthma induced by ovalbumin
(OVA) and house dust mite (HDM), the raw data set of pulmonary
microcirculation was collected and visualized by multimodal device and
computer algorithm-based Micro-in-One platform. A three-dimensional
framework was constructed, and changes of pulmonary microcirculatory
oxygen, microhemodynamics were compared. The contributions of biological
oscillators were revealed by wavelet transform analysis. Additionally,
levels of microcirculation-associated proteins in serum were measured by
antibody-pair-based assay. Results: Microcirculatory profile of
the lungs in both OVA-induced and HDM-induced asthma groups exhibited a
loss of microhemodynamic coherence compare to the control mice,
including the decreased microvascular blood perfusion, decreased PO
2, and significantly increased index of pulmonary
microcirculatory resistance (IMRp). In addition, amplitude regimens
separated by (NO-dependent and NO-independent) endothelial components
were related to the changes in pulmonary microcirculation in asthmatic
models. Meanwhile, matrix-based hierarchical clustering analysis showed
that IMRp positively correlated to amplitude in both asthmatic groups.
Conclusions: Micro-in-One is a validated and reliable method to
measure and visualize the integrated pulmonary microcirculation. Data
suggest that there is the dysfunctional status of pulmonary
microcirculation in asthma.