Denver Health Medical Center

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Medicine

In vivo Measurement of the Mouse Pulmonary Endothelial Surface Layer

Yimu Yang¹, Gaoqing Yang¹, Eric P. Schmidt¹

¹Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine

The endothelial glycocalyx/endothelial surface layer is ideally studied using intravital microscopy. Intravital microscopy is technically challenging in a moving organ such as the lung. We demonstrate how simultaneous brightfield and fluorescent microscopy may be used to estimate endothelial surface layer thickness in a freely-moving in vivo mouse lung.

Medicine

Direct Intrabronchial Administration to Improve the Selective Agent Deposition Within the Mouse Lung

Sumei Liao¹, Oliver Eickelberg¹, Eric P. Schmidt^1,2, Yimu Yang¹

¹Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, ²Department of Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center

Intratracheal (IT) administration of experimental agents in mice often results in asymmetric delivery to the distal lungs. In this report, we describe a direct intrabronchial (IB) approach to cannulate each lung in living mice non-operatively. This approach can be used to selectively administer agents to one lung or may be adapted to improve the symmetric agent delivery to both lungs.

Biology

Detection of Glycosaminoglycans by Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis and Silver Staining

Wells B. LaRiviere^1,2, Xiaorui Han^3,4, Kaori Oshima¹, Sarah A. McMurtry¹, Robert J. Linhardt³, Eric P. Schmidt^1,5

¹Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, ²Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, ³Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ⁴Department of Health Sciences, Curtin University, ⁵Department of Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center

This report describes techniques to isolate and purify sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) from biological samples and a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis approach to approximate their size. GAGs contribute to tissue structure and influence signaling processes via electrostatic interaction with proteins. GAG polymer length contributes to their binding affinity for cognate ligands.