Vascular dysfunction in aged mice contributes to persistent lung fibrosis.

ABSTRACT: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease thought to result from impaired lung repair following injury and is strongly associated with aging. While vascular alterations have been associated with IPF previously, the contribution of lung vasculature during injury resolution and fibrosis is not well understood. To compare the role of endothelial cells (ECs) in resolving and non-resolving models of lung fibrosis, we applied bleomycin intratracheally to young and aged mice. We found that injury in aged mice elicited capillary rarefaction, while injury in young mice resulted in increased capillary density. ECs from the lungs of injured aged mice relative to young mice demonstrated elevated pro-fibrotic and reduced vascular homeostasis gene expression. Among the latter, Nos3 (e

SUBMITTER: Caporarello N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431829 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature