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Updated: Jul 16, 2026
07:36
Angiogenesis in the Ischemic Rat Lung
Published on: February 8, 2013
Angiogenesis in chronic lung disease
Norbert F Voelkel1, Ivor S Douglas1, Mark Nicolls1
1The Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center, Denver CO.
Chest
|March 16, 2007
Summary
Chronic lung diseases involve vascular remodeling. This review explores how altered blood vessel growth contributes to conditions like COPD and pulmonary hypertension, impacting lung health.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary vascular disease
- Lung vascular remodeling
- Angiogenesis in chronic lung diseases
Background:
- Chronic lung diseases such as COPD, pulmonary hypertension (PH), and interstitial lung diseases share a common pulmonary vascular disease component.
- Pulmonary vascular remodeling is a key feature, involving microvessels in conditions like emphysema (loss of microvessels) and severe PH (arteriole obliteration via angioproliferation).
- These conditions represent opposite ends of a spectrum of vascular biology responses, highlighting the complex role of vascular changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role of angiogenesis in various chronic lung diseases.
- To explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying pulmonary vascular remodeling.
- To speculate on how disrupted vascular homeostasis contributes to the development and progression of lung diseases.
Main Methods:
- Review of experimental findings from animal models of pulmonary vascular remodeling.
- Analysis of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in microvessel changes.
- Discussion of the balance between angiogenesis and angiostasis in lung injury and fibrosis.
Main Results:
- Emphysema is characterized by a loss of lung microvessels.
- Severe pulmonary hypertension involves angioproliferation and obliteration of precapillary arterioles.
- Altered angiogenic/angiostatic balance is observed in pulmonary fibrosis and acute lung injury.
Conclusions:
- Pulmonary vascular remodeling is central to several chronic lung diseases.
- Understanding vascular homeostasis is crucial for developing treatments for lung diseases.
- The spectrum of vascular responses ranges from microvessel loss in emphysema to angioproliferation in PH.
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