Histology of the Normal Mouse Trachea

Abstract

The first tissue engineered tracheal transplantation was performed in 2008 and has since been proposed as a treatment for patients who suffer from severe tracheal stenosis. While the procedure has been performed experimentally on several patients in Europe, the outcomes are poorly documented and complications including patient deaths have resulted in a call for more pre-clinical investigations. Due to multiple factors, our laboratory chose to adapt a mouse model for bronchiolitis obliterans, to model tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation. Early on, it was realized that there was little literature on normal murine tracheobronchial anatomy. To resolve this problem, we set out to create a histological atlas of the murine trachea. Histologic images of normal murine tracheae (hematoxylin and eosin, and Masson's trichrome) were obtained using brightfield multispectral imaging at 5x, 1 Ox, and 1 OOx. Images were reviewed and annotated by specialists in airway surgery,veterinary medicine, and anatomic pathology. It is our hope that establishing this atlas will provide important normative data for researchers already using this model , and will cultivate increased interest in the murine model for future tracheal transplantation research. Begin Time: 09:12 End Time: 25:40