Development of late pulmonary hypertension after antenatal inflammation in experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia

No published preclinical studies have investigated the association between antenatal inflammation (AI) and temporal changes in structure and function of the developing lung circulation that lead to pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD; BPD-PH), despite strong epidemiologic links. We demonstrate that AI causes early abnormalities of pulmonary alveolar and vascular growth, preceding changes in pulmonary mechanics and echocardiographic metrics of PH, which increase over time during infancy without adverse postnatal exposures. These findings support the growing evidence that AI disrupts lung vascular development and that early pulmonary vascular disease increases susceptibility to BPD and BPD-PH in infancy.