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Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy

The alveolar capillary network (ACN) has a large surface area that provides the basis for an optimized gas exchange in the lung. It needs to adapt to morphological changes during early lung development and alveolarization. Structural alterations of the pulmonary vasculature can lead to pathological...

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Autores principales: Buchacker, Tobias, Mühlfeld, Christian, Wrede, Christoph, Wagner, Willi L., Beare, Richard, McCormick, Matt, Grothausmann, Roman
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6881265/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31824323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01357
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author Buchacker, Tobias
Mühlfeld, Christian
Wrede, Christoph
Wagner, Willi L.
Beare, Richard
McCormick, Matt
Grothausmann, Roman
author_facet Buchacker, Tobias
Mühlfeld, Christian
Wrede, Christoph
Wagner, Willi L.
Beare, Richard
McCormick, Matt
Grothausmann, Roman
author_sort Buchacker, Tobias
collection PubMed
description The alveolar capillary network (ACN) has a large surface area that provides the basis for an optimized gas exchange in the lung. It needs to adapt to morphological changes during early lung development and alveolarization. Structural alterations of the pulmonary vasculature can lead to pathological functional conditions such as in bronchopulmonary dysplasia and various other lung diseases. To understand the development of the ACN and its impact on the pathogenesis of lung diseases, methods are needed that enable comparative analyses of the complex three-dimensional structure of the ACN at different developmental stages and under pathological conditions. In this study a newborn mouse lung was imaged with serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) to investigate the ACN and its surrounding structures before the alveolarization process begins. Most parts but not all of the examined ACN contain two layers of capillaries, which were repeatedly connected with each other. A path from an arteriole to a venule was extracted and straightened to allow cross-sectional visualization of the data along the path within a plane. This allows a qualitative characterization of the structures that erythrocytes pass on their way through the ACN. One way to define regions of the ACN supplied by specific arterioles is presented and used for analyses. Pillars, possibly intussusceptive, were found in the vasculature but no specific pattern was observed in regard to parts of the saccular septa. This study provides 3D information with a resolution of about 150 nm on the microscopic structure of a newborn mouse lung and outlines some of the potentials and challenges of SBF-SEM for 3D analyses of the ACN.
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spelling pubmed-68812652019-12-10 Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy Buchacker, Tobias Mühlfeld, Christian Wrede, Christoph Wagner, Willi L. Beare, Richard McCormick, Matt Grothausmann, Roman Front Physiol Physiology The alveolar capillary network (ACN) has a large surface area that provides the basis for an optimized gas exchange in the lung. It needs to adapt to morphological changes during early lung development and alveolarization. Structural alterations of the pulmonary vasculature can lead to pathological functional conditions such as in bronchopulmonary dysplasia and various other lung diseases. To understand the development of the ACN and its impact on the pathogenesis of lung diseases, methods are needed that enable comparative analyses of the complex three-dimensional structure of the ACN at different developmental stages and under pathological conditions. In this study a newborn mouse lung was imaged with serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) to investigate the ACN and its surrounding structures before the alveolarization process begins. Most parts but not all of the examined ACN contain two layers of capillaries, which were repeatedly connected with each other. A path from an arteriole to a venule was extracted and straightened to allow cross-sectional visualization of the data along the path within a plane. This allows a qualitative characterization of the structures that erythrocytes pass on their way through the ACN. One way to define regions of the ACN supplied by specific arterioles is presented and used for analyses. Pillars, possibly intussusceptive, were found in the vasculature but no specific pattern was observed in regard to parts of the saccular septa. This study provides 3D information with a resolution of about 150 nm on the microscopic structure of a newborn mouse lung and outlines some of the potentials and challenges of SBF-SEM for 3D analyses of the ACN. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6881265/ /pubmed/31824323 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01357 Text en Copyright © 2019 Buchacker, Mühlfeld, Wrede, Wagner, Beare, McCormick and Grothausmann. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Buchacker, Tobias
Mühlfeld, Christian
Wrede, Christoph
Wagner, Willi L.
Beare, Richard
McCormick, Matt
Grothausmann, Roman
Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title_full Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title_fullStr Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title_short Assessment of the Alveolar Capillary Network in the Postnatal Mouse Lung in 3D Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy
title_sort assessment of the alveolar capillary network in the postnatal mouse lung in 3d using serial block-face scanning electron microscopy
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6881265/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31824323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01357
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