Noninvasive In-Vivo Quantification of Compensatory Lung Growth Following Pneumonectomy, Via 1H & 3He MRI

Wei Wang¹, ², Nguyet M. Nguyen³, Jinbang Guo¹, Yulin Chang², Dmitriy A. Yablonskiy², Richard A. Pierce³, Jason C. Woods, ¹²

Pneumonectomy (PNX) is a robust, established model of compensatory lung growth. Understanding the time course and the mechanism of compensatory lung growth will promote understanding of post-natal lung growth and regeneration. ³He lung morphometry has been successfully implemented in humans for years, and was recently developed and validated in mice. Here we image in-vivo morphometry at baseline and serially assess compensatory growth after PNX in mice via ¹H and ³He MRI. The results demonstrate that in addition to growth of alveolar size, the total lung volume, alveolar number and lung compliance are restored to baseline levels by compensatory lung growth.