Using multiphoton microscopy to assess pulmonary emphysema in mouse models

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide and will be increased in the coming decades. Pulmonary emphysema is one of the hallmarks of COPD. Establishing the animal model of pulmonary emphysema is very important to explore its pathogenesis. Until now, researchers are still having used histological methods to assess whether it is successful to stimulate the emphysema animal model. In this study, we try to use multiphoton microscopy imaging system to assess whether the mouse models obtained the emphysema pathological. The two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) signals and second harmonic generation (SHG) signals clearly showed changes in both cellular features and extracellular matrix architecture during different time of emphysema mouse models. With the development of miniaturized multiphoton microscopy, multiphoton microscopy can be used to monitor the developing of pulmonary emphysema in animals in vivo.