Objective: To construct a rat model of COPD-OSAHS overlap syndrome (OS), and to provide a feasible means and experimental platform for basic research on OS.
METHODS: Fourteen SPF female 6-week-old SD rats were randomly divided into experimental group and control group, in which the experimental group (8 rats) was given smoky and intermittent hypoxia exposure, and the control group (6 rats) was given sham smoking and intermittent hypoxia exposure. Normal oxygen exposure. After 8 weeks, the survival rate of rats in the experimental group was calculated, and the general conditions, blood gas analysis, right ventricular hypertrophy index, average alveolar number, average alveolar interval, and pathological changes of lung tissue were compared between the two groups.
Results: The oxygen concentration-time change curve of the intermittent hypoxia box showed that the oxygen concentration decreased periodically and returned to normal, successfully simulating the intermittent hypoxic gas environment; 6 animals in the experimental group survived, with a survival rate of 75%, and 6 animals in the control group survived. All the rats survived. Compared with the control group, the 6 surviving SD rats in the experimental group were generally in poor condition, with acidosis, hypoxemia, carbon dioxide retention, right ventricular hypertrophy, significantly increased mean alveolar intercept, and mean alveolar intercept. Lung tissue pathological observation showed pulmonary interstitial inflammatory infiltration, bronchial wall lymphocyte proliferation, bronchiolar wall smooth muscle hyperplasia, partial rupture of tube wall smooth muscle, goblet cell hyperplasia and Emphysema.
Conclusion: The rat OS model was successfully established by the method of smoking combined with intermittent hypoxia exposure, and more meaningful and objective model evaluation indicators need to be discovered.