Does animal model on ventilator-associated pneumonia reflect physiopathology of sepsis mechanisms in humans?

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients in intensive care units. In the last 20 years, different animal models have been a valuable tool for the study of pathophysiology and phenotypic characteristics of different lung infections observed in humans, becoming an essential link between '''' testing and clinical studies. Different animal models have been used to study the mechanism of a deregulated inflammatory response and host tissue damage of sepsis in VAP, as well as different infection parameters such as clinical, physiological, microbiological and pathological facts in several large and small mammals. In addition, the dosage of inflammatory modulators and their consequences in local and systemic inflammation, or even the administration of antibiotics, have been evaluated with very interesting results. Although some bronchial inoculation ways do not resemble the common pathophysiologic mechanisms, the experimental model of VAP induced by the inoculation of high concentrations of pathogens in mechanically ventilated animals is useful for studying the local and systemic responses of sepsis in VAP and it reproduces biological mechanisms such as acute lung injury, distress response, cardiac events and immune modulation comparable with clinical studies.

A new model of endotracheal tube biofilm identifies combinations of matrix-degrading enzymes and antimicrobials able to eradicate biofilms of pathogens that cause ventilator-associated pneumonia

“…More recent biofilm models, such as our ex vivo model of the cystic fibrosis airways, which combines pig lung tissue with synthetic cystic fibrosis mucus, produce biofilms with gene expression profiles that resemble those observed in patient sputum (2,(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43). The in vitro and ex vivo models developed to better mimic the airways of individuals with cystic fibrosis (44) stands in stark contrast to ventilator-associated pneumonia, where animal models are relied on for the study of the disease (45,46). Here, we showcase a novel in vitro biofilm model featuring newly developed synthetic ventilated airway mucus growth medium (SVAM) and serum-coated endotracheal tubes (Fig 1).…”

A new model of endotracheal tube biofilm identifies combinations of matrix-degrading enzymes and antimicrobials able to eradicate biofilms of pathogens that cause ventilator-associated pneumonia

“…More recent biofilm models, such as our ex vivo model of the cystic fibrosis airways, which combines pig lung tissue with synthetic cystic fibrosis mucus, produce biofilms with gene expression profiles that resemble those observed in patient sputum [3,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. The in vitro and ex vivo models developed to better mimic the airways of individuals with cystic fibrosis [51] stand in stark contrast to VAP, where animal models are relied on for the study of the disease [52,53].…”

Muscle Protein Synthesis with a Hybrid Dairy and Plant-Based Protein Blend (P4) Is Equal to Whey Protein in a Murine Ageing Model after Fasting

“…A practical, feasible and translatable in vivo model to study critical care patients is not presently available [14,15]. However, it is possible to model the critical care patient by including ageing in combination with metabolic stress induced by fasting.…”