Morphology of the developing fetal lung – the rabbit experimental model

Fetal lung development may become impaired by congenital malformations or in utero events. These may be mimicked in animal models, useful in the study of the pathophysiology or therapy of these diseases. Our group has focused on prenatal management of congenital diaphragmatic hernia, because this condition still leads to 30 % mortality related to the consequences of lung hypoplasia and pulmonary hypertension. We have been using for that purpose the rabbit model. In this paper we demonstrate that surgical induction of diaphragmatic hernia in the pseudoglandular phase of lung development provokes lung hypoplasia. This is reflected in morphometric changes in airways and vessels, predominantly in the ipsilateral lung. We also discuss the effects on morphometry of pressure or immersion fixation of unrespirated lungs, showing that either protocol can disclose one or more structural alterations in the hypoplastic lung