Toward in vivo bronchoscopic functional CFTR assessment using a short circuit current measurement probe

The epithelial lining of luminal organs provides an immune barrier against external factors and regulates the transport of nutrients, ions, and water into the body. Several conditions are associated with the breakdown or dysfunction of the epithelial lining. Short circuit current (<i>I</i>_sc) measurement using a bulky, expensive, and hard-to-deploy system known as the Ussing chamber is the gold standard for evaluation of epithelial transport function but requires tissue excision. We demonstrated the ability of the <i>I</i>_sc probe to measure <i>I</i>_sc in normal wild type (WT) versus reduced cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) function knockout (KO) rats as a relevant animal model for testing ion channel function.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> We have conducted short circuit current measurements in animal models in vivo for studying cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and ion channel restoration.