Respiratory Disease Models | WuXi Biology & Testing

Optimize Respiratory Therapeutics with In Vivo Models

Drive your respiratory drug discovery programs forward with WuXi Biology and Testing’s comprehensive in vivo model portfolio spanning asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and rhinitis.

Our specialized platforms generate robust, reproducible data to evaluate therapeutic efficacy and accelerate candidate selection.

In Vivo Respiratory Disease Models

Our well-established in vivo respiratory models enable assessment of efficacy across inflammatory, obstructive, fibrotic, vascular, and acute lung diseases.

Asthma Model

Available models include:

OVA/Alum-induced Th2 asthma
HDM/Alum-induced Th2 asthma
HDM-induced Th2 asthma
OVA/Alum/LPS-induced non-Th2 asthma
OVA/CFA/LPS-induced non-Th2 asthma
Additional allergen (alternaria or ascaris suum, etc.)-induced models in multiple species

Study endpoints can include pulmonary function for airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR); inflammatory cell populations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF); immunoglobulins and cytokines; and lung histopathology.

Test parameters:

Pulmonary function for airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR): Penh (enhanced pause), RI and Cdyn.
Cells count in BALF: total WBC, EOS, NEUT, MONO, etc.
Igs in serum: Total IgE, allergen sIgE and allergen sIgG1
Pathology: H&E, PAS and DFS of lung sections
Cytokines in BALF supernatant: IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, TARC, Eotaxin, KC, CXCL5, etc.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

COPD models include:

Long-term cigarette smoke-induced COPD
Short-term cigarette smoke/LPS-induced COPD-like disease
Cigarette smoke/PPE-induced COPD
PPE/LPS-induced COPD

Study assessments can incorporate pulmonary function, BALF inflammatory cell analysis, inflammatory mediators, and lung histopathology.

Test parameters:

Pulmonary function: FEV/FVC, FRC, etc.
H&E staining of lung sections and detection of mean inner lining interval (MLI)
Inflammatory cells count in BALF
Cytokines in BALF and plasma: MCP-1, KC, TNF-α

Pulmonary Fibrosis

Available pulmonary fibrosis models include:

Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis
Silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis

Endpoints can include pulmonary function, lung histopathology and fibrosis staining, hydroxyproline, collagen-related biomarkers, inflammatory responses, and BALF analysis.

Test parameters:

Survival proportions
Pulmonary function: FVC, Cdyn and RI
Masson and H&E staining of lung sections, and Ashcroft score
IHC staining of α-SMA
Inflammatory cells number in BALF
TGF-β1 and soluble collagen in BALF
Hydroxyproline level in lung tissue

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)

PAH models include:

MCT-induced PAH
SU5416/hypoxia-induced PAH

Study endpoints can include hemodynamic indicators, right ventricular hypertrophy indicators, cardiovascular and pulmonary functional parameters, and pulmonary vascular pathology.

Test parameters:

Index of right ventricular and pulmonary artery function index: PAAT/PET, TAPSE, RVWT
Hemodynamic indicators: RVSP and calculated mPAP
Right ventricular hypertrophy indicators: Fulton’s index (RV/(LV+S)) and right ventricular/Tibia length (RV/TL)
H&E staining of lung section: Percentage of pulmonary artery wall thickness (PAWT%) and Plexiform lesions (PL)
IHC staining of lung section for PCNA+ cells

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)

Available models include:

LPS-induced ALI/ARDS
Cigarette smoke/LPS-induced acute lung injury

These models support evaluation of inflammatory responses, pulmonary pathology, and treatment effects in acute lung injury.

Test parameters:

Survival proportions
Pulmonary function: Penh
H&E staining of lung sections for lung injury score
Inflammatory cells number in BALF
Cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 in BALF

Additional Respiratory Models & Assays

Additional capabilities include:

Acute Th2 inflammation PK/PD study
OVA-induced allergic rhinitis
AP/OVA-induced sinusitis
ATP/citric acid-induced acute cough
Histamine/citric acid-induced acute cough
Citric acid-induced acute cough
Ex vivo tracheal ring constriction test
In vivo airway pre-contraction test induced by methacholine

In Vivo Pulmonary Function & Pharmacology Assessments

Respiratory pharmacology studies can integrate functional, cellular, biochemical, and tissue-level endpoints to characterize disease phenotype and therapeutic response.

Available assessments include:

Non-invasive pulmonary function testing: whole-body plethysmography for Penh, F, Tvb, etc.
Invasive pulmonary function testing: RI, Cdyn, FVC, FEV, FRC, etc.
Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) assessment
BALF inflammatory cell profiling
Cytokine and biomarker analysis in BALF, serum, or plasma
Immunoglobulin measurements
Lung histopathology: H&E, PAS, DFS, TB, Masson’s trichrome and IHC staining.
Fibrosis-related endpoints including hydroxyproline and collagen-associated biomarkers

Pulmonary Drug Delivery & Inhalation Studies

Pulmonary delivery capabilities support respiratory pharmacology studies requiring direct administration of test articles to the respiratory tract or alveoli.

The inhalation platform supports:

Mice, rats, and guinea pigs
Dry powder, liquid, and aerosol delivery
Inhalation-based disease studies
Pulmonary drug delivery studies

These capabilities can be integrated with respiratory disease models and pulmonary function, biomarker, and pathology endpoints to evaluate treatment effects following pulmonary administration.