A Simple and Reliable Method of Endotracheal Intubation in Mice: Advantages of Exposing the Trachea

Published in the Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science an international journal of laboratory animal science Introduction Airway management is important for various types of experimental studies, such as those utilizing mechanical ventilation (Brown et al., 1999), measurement of pulmonary function, and the administration of drugs (Epperly et al., 1999). Tracheostomy is an invasive method, and thus it is not appropriate for experiments aiming for survival and follow-up. Thus endotracheal intubation is used in long-term studies, though this is hard to do in mice because their small anatomic structures make intubation difficult. Since a method of endotracheal intubation in mice was first reported by Ho and Furst in 1973 (Ho and Furst, 1973), several methods have been described (MacDonald et al., 2009; Rivera et al., 2005; Spoelstra et al., 2007; Vergari et al., 2003). However, many of these required hard-to-use and expensive devices such as a 150-W halogen light source (Brown et al., 1999; Spoelstra et al., 2007), a small fiber-optic arthroscope (Vergari et al., 2003) or a custom-designed fiber-optic light guide (MacDonald et al., 2009; Rivera et al., 2005). In addition, there have been only a few reports to confirm the position of the cannula inserted into the trachea, though all methods of endotracheal intubation pose the risk of esophageal intubation, which may cause death (MacDonald et al., 2009; Watanabe et al., 2009). Therefore, we have established a simple and reliable method of direct endotracheal intubation in mice by employing easy-to-use, inexpensive devices. Our method involves the exposure of the trachea, which A Simple and Reliable Method of Endotracheal Intubation in Mice: Advantages of Exposing the Trachea