Caffeine Protects Against Hyperoxia-Induced Structural Lung Injury and Restores Alveolar Development in Neonatal Rats.

ABSTRACT: In the developing lung, oxidative stress caused by relative hyperoxia constitutes a central pathogenic mechanism of neonatal lung injury resulting in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The immature postnatal lung is highly susceptible to oxidative damage due to incomplete antioxidant defenses and ongoing alveolar and vascular maturation. In a postnatal high-oxygen-induced rat model of BPD-associated lung injury, three or five days of exposure to 80% oxygen was found to disrupt developmental signaling pathways, downregulating genes essential for alveolarization and angiogenesis while inducing profibrotic mediators and collagen expression (Sirius Red staining). These changes resulted in simplified alveolar architecture, as quantified by toluidine blue staining and mean linear intercept analys

SUBMITTER: Endesfelder S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12729525 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature