Tuberculosis is a disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), it most often affects the lungs.
These results complement scientists' understanding ofwhat happens at an early stage of tuberculosis infection. The new data also partly explains why smokers or people with impaired surfactant production are more likely to contract a primary or recurrent respiratory infection.
Tuberculosis affects people of all ages.Although the disease primarily affects adults, there are currently no effective vaccines for this group. This is partly due to the difficulty in studying the early stages of infection, which occur when there are only one or two bacteriaM. tuberculosisdeposited deep in the lungs. Creating a “lung on a chip” model allows scientists to study the early processes of infection.
Enlarged image of the lung-on-a-chip model,used in the study. The endothelial or vascular channel is highlighted with red food coloring, and the epithelial channel or airway channel — blue food coloring. The design allows cells to be co-cultured from two channels in the middle of the chip. Photo: Vivek Tucker (CC BY 4.0)
The team of scientists used their model “lungon a Chip "to recreate the surfactant deficiency produced by alveolar epithelial cells and then see how lung cells respond to early TB infection. Their studies showed that a lack of surfactant leads to uncontrolled and rapid growth of bacteria both in macrophages and in the cells of the alveolar epithelium. In addition, the presence of a surfactant significantly reduces this growth in both cells, and in some cases completely prevents it.
The study authors state that they are now using the model to study how the lungs might respond to a low dose of infection and the novel coronavirus vaccine.
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