Micro-in-One: an in vivo platform for the integrated pulmonary microcirculatory profile in asthma

Background: Asthma is a chronic airway disorder associated with aberrant inflammatory, remodeling and angiogenesis, indicating that the altered pulmonary microcirculatory may exist in the local and contribute to the pathogenesis. There are rare studies in vivo, which could directly prove the disorders of microcirculation in asthmatic lungs. This study aimed to establish Micro-in-One platform and set up the first profile of the integrated asthmatic pulmonary microcirculation. Methods: Using murine models of asthma induced by ovalbumin (OVA) and house dust mite (HDM), the raw data set of pulmonary microcirculation was collected and visualized by multimodal device and computer algorithm-based Micro-in-One platform. A three-dimensional framework was constructed, and changes of pulmonary microcirculatory oxygen, microhemodynamics were compared. The contributions of biological oscillators were revealed by wavelet transform analysis. Additionally, levels of microcirculation-associated proteins in serum were measured by antibody-pair-based assay. Results: Microcirculatory profile of the lungs in both OVA-induced and HDM-induced asthma groups exhibited a loss of microhemodynamic coherence compare to the control mice, including the decreased microvascular blood perfusion, decreased PO , and significantly increased index of pulmonary microcirculatory resistance (IMRp). In addition, amplitude regimens separated by (NO-dependent and NO-independent) endothelial components were related to the changes in pulmonary microcirculation in asthmatic models. Meanwhile, matrix-based hierarchical clustering analysis showed that IMRp positively correlated to amplitude in both asthmatic groups. Conclusions: Micro-in-One is a validated and reliable method to measure and visualize the integrated pulmonary microcirculation. Data suggest that there is the dysfunctional status of pulmonary microcirculation in asthma.