RESEARCH ARTICLE
Quantification of Mouse Lung Elastin During Prenatal Development
Paula Rodrigues1, Carlos Gonçalves*, 2, Ana Honório3, José Barros4, Vasco Bairos5
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 46
Last Page: 51
Publisher ID: TORMJ-2-46
DOI: 10.2174/1874306400802010046
Article History:
Received Date: 6/3/2008Revision Received Date: 17/4/2008
Acceptance Date: 1/5/2008
Electronic publication date: 15/5/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/license/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Elastic fibres play a crucial function during the process of lung alveolisation. During the perinatal period, any changes in the elastogenic process during foetal development may result in permanent lifetime defects. In pre-natal life, well-developed pulmonary elastic fibres should favor the pre-natal maturation of the lung and an enhanced alveolisation, which in many species, such as humans begins only after birth. The authors present a quantitative study by image analysis and by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) of the mouse lungs’ elastic fibre content from the 15th till the 19th gestational day.