Vitamin A Treatment and Lung Disease in Pre-Term Lambs
Dallas M. Hyde, Ph.D.
University of California Davis
NIEHS Grant P01ES000628
Neonatal Chronic Lung Disease (CLD) often occurs in premature babies who are chronically maintained on mechanical ventilation until their lungs have developed enough to breath normally. The disease is characterized by incomplete development of the lungs and a thickening of lung tissues. Even with improved procedures for ventilation, neonatal CLD continues to be a major cause of mortality and long-term morbidity in premature infants. Administration of vitamin A has improved the respiratory outcome of premature infants, but there is little information to suggest the mechanisms by which this occurs.
A multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Utah, California, Pennsylvania and Texas reports that a variety of growth factors and cellular components are modulated by vitamin A administration in premature lambs managed with mechanical ventilation. Gene expression of tropoelasatin and deposition of elastin was decreased in treated lambs while vascular endothelial and other growth factors were increased.
The researchers conclude that vitamin A treatment partially improves lung development in chronically ventilated pre-term neonates by modulating these factors. They speculate that treatment approaches that could potentially enhance these effects may lead to more complete alveolar development and capillary growth such that gas exchange will be in improved in premature infants.
Citation: Albertine KH, Dahl MJ, Gonzales LW, Wang ZM, Metcalfe D, Hyde DM, Plopper CG, Starcher BC, Carlton DP, Bland RD. Chronic lung disease in preterm lambs: effect of daily vitamin A treatment on alveolarization. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2010 Jul;299(1):L59-72.
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