Splenic Focused Ultrasound Improves Experimental Pulmonary Hypertension and Reprograms Immune Responses in Female and Male Rats

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is frequently associated with pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) yet pulmonary vascular involvement remains underrecognized and incompletely phenotyped.

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) provides high-resolution, three-dimensional visualization of small vascular structures in situ, enabling detailed analysis of morphological changes in the perinatal vasculature.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a multifaceted disorder characterized by the crucial involvement of activated hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). Recent investigations have unveiled HIFs' ability to orchestrate a wide array of signaling cascades, encompassing voltage-gated potassium channels, non-selective cation channels (NSCCs), Ca2+/PKC/MAPKs, PI3K/Akt, RhoA/ROCK, Notch, VEGF, and miRNA pathways.

Neonates and infants with FOXF1 mutation develop alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACD/MPV), which is typically considered a uniformly fatal neonatal lung disorder due to marked hypoxemic respiratory failure with severe pulmonary hypertension (PH).