Radioactive Lungs--2022 Judges’ Award Winner, Postdoctoral Category. In Art of Science

Caption: A unique method to track the movement of gas through the body provides insights to detect and treat diseases
Participant category: Postdoctoral
Department: Emergency Medicine at UC San Diego

This image shows radioactive nitrogen gas being inhaled into the lungs of a rat. Radioactive nitrogen releases atomic particles as it moves through the body, providing a signal that allows us to track where the nitrogen gas is. Here, the signal is strongest in the trachea, then spreads out as the nitrogen fills the lungs before it is taken up by the blood and transported throughout the body. As only the gas is being tracked, no anatomical structures are seen as in traditional medical scans, producing a silhouette of the lungs. Currently we are tracking the movement of nitrogen to better understand injuries during SCUBA diving where pressure changes can cause nitrogen gas to form bubbles in bodily tissues, a condition known as decompression sickness or “the bends.” Ethical animal models are essential to understanding and developing treatments for such illnesses, as well as providing a foundation for future research in humans. All procedures were performed in accordance with protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of California San Diego.