BACKGROUNDYoung children are susceptible to pulmonary injury, and acute lung injury (ALI) often results in a high mortality and financial costs in pediatric patients. A good ALI model will help us to gain a better understanding of the real pathophysiological picture and to evaluate novel treatment approaches to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) more accurately and liberally. This study aimed to establish a hemodynamically stable and reproducible model with ALI in piglet induced by oleic acid.

METHODSSix Chinese mini-piglets were used to establish ALI models by oleic acid. Hemodynamic and pulmonary function data were measured. Histopathological assessment was performed.

RESULTSMean blood pressure, heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), central venous pressure (CVP) and left atrial pressure (LAP) were sharply decreased after oleic acid given, while the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (MPAP) was increased in comparison with baseline (P < 0.05). pH, arterial partial pressure of O2 (PaO2), PaO2/inspired O2 fraction (FiO2) and lung compliance decreased, while PaCO2 and airway pressure increased in comparison with baseline (P < 0.05). The lung histology showed severe inflammation, hyaline membranes, intra-alveolar and interstitial hemorrhage.

CONCLUSIONThis experiment established a stable model which allows for a diversity of studies on early lung injury.