The effects of potential therapeutics on the respiratory system can be assessed using a variety of models, and species, with which Porsolt has extensive experience. These models can be used for assessing the efficacy and/or safety of compounds, and include models for airway function, asthma, cough, fibrosis, bronchospasm, etc.
IN VIVO | ||
Airway function (whole body plethysmography) | Mouse - Rat - Guinea-pig | RES 1 |
Airway function under hypercapnia (whole body plethysmography) | Guinea-pig | RES 2 |
Airway function in large animals | Dog - Mini-pig | RES 7 |
Histamine bronchospasm | Guinea-pig | RES 3 |
Ovalbumin-induced asthma | Guinea-pig | RES 5 |
Citric acid-induced cough | Guinea-pig | RES 6 |
Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis | Mouse | RES 8 |
EX VIVO | ||
Isolated trachea | Guinea-pig | RES 4 |
Respiratory parameters:
- Inspiratory Time (Ti, ms)
- Expiratory Time (Te, ms)
- Peak Inspiratory Flow (PIF, ml/s)
- Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF, ml/s)
- Tidal Volume (TV, ml)
- Respiratory Rate (ResR, breaths/min)
- Relaxation Time (Tr, ms)
- Pause = (Te - Tr)/Tr
- Enhanced Pause (Penh) = Pause x PEF/PIF
- Minute volume (MV, ml/min) = (TV x ResR).
• Intra-tracheal administration of bleomycin induces:
– Leukocyte infiltration into the airways
– Fibrosis, multifocal peribronchiolar inflammatory changes (infiltration of neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes) and hyperplasia of alveolar and bronchiolar epithelial cells
→ Good correlation between Ashcroft score and inflammatory changes
• Salbutamol has protective effects against ovalbumin-‐induced acute bronchoconstriction. In contrast and as expected, it has no protective effects against airway inflammation.
• Codeine decreased citric acid-‐induced cough as compared to vehicle control group.