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Updated: Dec 14, 2025
Development of a Neonatal Piglet Acute Lung Injury Model Recreating the Early Environment of Preterm Infant Lungs
Published on: October 31, 2025
Recent advances in understanding and management of bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Mitali Sahni1,2, Vineet Bhandari3
1Pediatrix Medical Group, Sunrise Children's Hospital, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Insights
Advances in neonatal care improve survival for extremely low-birth-weight infants, but bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a challenge. Research is uncovering new therapeutic targets for this chronic lung disease in premature infants.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Medicine
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Survival rates for extremely low-birth-weight infants have risen due to technological advancements.
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a significant cause of chronic lung dysfunction, mortality, and morbidity in these infants.
- BPD arises from impaired lung development due to antenatal and postnatal factors affecting lung parenchyma and vasculature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the evolving understanding of BPD pathobiology and identify novel therapeutic targets.
- To discuss the challenges in defining BPD and predicting patient outcomes.
- To highlight emerging investigational agents for BPD management and prevention.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
- Analysis of recent research on lung injury and repair mechanisms in BPD.
- Exploration of 'omic' approaches to identify disease factors and therapeutic targets.
Main Results:
- Understanding of BPD pathobiology has advanced, revealing new mechanisms of lung injury and repair.
- 'Omic' approaches have identified potential novel therapeutic targets for BPD.
- Investigational agents like mesenchymal stem cell therapy and insulin-like growth factor 1 are under exploration.
Conclusions:
- Despite progress, a uniform definition for BPD that predicts outcomes is still lacking.
- New research and 'omic' technologies offer promising avenues for future BPD therapies.
- Further research is essential to improve outcomes for premature infants affected by BPD.
Abstract:
In the current era, the survival of extremely low-birth-weight infants has increased considerably because of new advances in technology; however, these infants often develop chronic dysfunction of the lung, which is called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD remains an important cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity despite newer and gentler modes of ventilation. BPD results from the exposure of immature lungs to various antenatal and postnatal factors that lead to an impairment in lung development and aberrant growth of lung parenchyma and vasculature. However, we still struggle with a uniform definition for BPD that can help predict various short- and long-term pulmonary outcomes. With new research, our understanding of the pathobiology of this disease has evolved, and many new mechanisms of lung injury and repair are now known. By utilizing the novel 'omic' approaches in BPD, we have now identified various factors in the disease process that may act as novel therapeutic targets in the future. New investigational agents being explored for the management and prevention of BPD include mesenchymal stem cell therapy and insulin-like growth factor 1. Despite this, many questions remain unanswered and require further research to improve the outcomes of premature infants with BPD.
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