Animal Models used in the TCV Research Lab

In the TCV Lab, Residents, Postdocs and Students utilize new and exciting animal models of lung and spinal cord injury, lung preservation, transplantation, growth and injury. These models include:
  • Pneumonectomy (mice & rats) and lobectomy (rats and swine)
  • Cardiopulmonary bypass model in the rat
  • Isolated, blood-perfused rabbit lung model
  • Isolated, buffer-perfused mouse lung system
  • Mouse in vivo hilar clamp model of lung ischemia-reperfusion
  • Spinal cord blunt injury model in rabbits and mice
  • Spinal cord ischemia-reprefusion injury in rabbits and pigs
  • Orthotopic, aerated tracheal transplant in mice
We use an isolated, blood-perfused rabbit lung model to study preservation and ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Rabbit Isolated Lung System

Isolated, blood-perfused rabbit lungs.
Rabbit Lungs

We use the isolated, buffer-perfused mouse lung model to study ischemia-reperfusion injury in various genetic mouse models. Click on the video below to see this model in action. Note that the lungs are white because of the buffer perfusion.

We also utilize an in vivo mouse model of lung ischemia-reperfusion injury via hilar clamping.


Mouse in vivo lung model


Obliterative bronchiolitis (OB ) is a rejection of the large airways in the lung which frequently occurs after 1-5 years in patients who receive lung transplantation, and is the primary cause of late death after lung transplantation. OB involves increased inflammation in the airway which leads to the development of airway damage and rejection. To date, the underlying cause of OB remains unknown. A new project in our lab utilizes a novel and exciting model to study aspects of OB in an experimental animal. Here, a portion of the airway from the neck (trachea) of a donor mouse is transplanted into the airway of a recipient mouse. This orthotopic transplant model a major advantage over heterotopic models in that it is aerated and functional, and will thus help us better understand the causes of OB. The eventual goal is to obtain knowledge which will lead to new ways to treat or prevent OB in lung transplant patients.

tracheal transplant