Establishment and pathological analysis of animal model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunosuppressed mice

    GU Keª²Ju,MA Yueª²Yun,SU Mingª²Quan,YANG Junª²Lan,HAO Xiaoª²Ke,YU Wenª²Bin

    Department of Clinical Laboratory,Xijing Hospital,Fourth Military Medical University,Xi¬ðan 710033,China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To establish an experimental model and to investigate the aspergillosis pathogenesis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunosuppressed mice.METHODS: Immunosuppressed mice were induced by prednisolone intraperitoneal injections.The quantity of peritoneal macrophages and spleen cells were counted and the Aspergillus fumigatus conidia were dropped into the nares of each mouse to cause invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.All the mice were killed at different time points and the lung tissue was cultured and histopathologically analyzed.RESULTS: The peritoneal macrophages of the mice decreased sharply after the prednisolone injection [(6ª±33¡À1ª±76)¡Á106 vs (3ª±18¡À0ª±57)¡Á106,P<0ª±01].The number of spleen cells and lymphocytes of PBMC also decreased significantly (P<0ª±01).A great amount of Aspergillus fumigatus and tissue necrosis were observed histopathologically in the lungs infected with aspergillus fumigatus in immunosuppressed mice.CONCLUSION: An experimental animal model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is successfully established,which is useful for further studies of the aspergillosis pathogenesis and the pathological process of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunosuppressed animals. ......