Chronic lung disease in preterm lambs: effect of daily vitamin A treatment on alveolarization.

ABSTRACT: Neonatal chronic lung disease is characterized by failed formation of alveoli and capillaries, and excessive deposition of matrix elastin, which are linked to lengthy mechanical ventilation (MV) with O(2)-rich gas. Vitamin A supplementation has improved respiratory outcome of premature infants, but there is little information about the structural and molecular manifestations in the lung that occur with vitamin A treatment. We hypothesized that vitamin A supplementation during prolonged MV, without confounding by antenatal steroid treatment, would improve alveolar secondary septation, decrease thickness of the mesenchymal tissue cores between distal air space walls, and increase alveolar capillary growth. We further hypothesized that these structural advancements would be associated with mo

SUBMITTER: Albertine KH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2904099 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature