The animals were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of ketamine 100 mg/kg (Fort Dodge Animal Health, Fort Dodge, Iowa) and Xylazine 6 mg/kg (Phoenix Scientific, Inc., St. Joseph, MO). The glottis was directly visualized and intubated with a 18 gauge Angiocatheter (forced oscillation measurements)(BD Insyte, Sandy, Utah) and transferred to a FlexiVent rodent ventilator (Scireq, Montreal, QC Canada) as previously described [12 (link)]. Ventilator rates of 200/minute, tidal volume of10 ml/kg with positive end-expiratory pressures of 3 cmH2O and a pressure limit of 30 cmH2O were used for the pneumonectomy procedure.