Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an increase of blood pressure in the lung blood vessels that leads to shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting and other symptoms. PH is a serious disease, and average survival is 5-yars after diagnosis. Scientific community believes that one of the major causes of the PH is the death of endothelial cells (the cells that form the innermost layer of the blood vessels) of lung blood vessels. Our lab studies the stem cells called endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). These cells are believed to be the precursor cells for the endothelial cells. These cells are can be obtained from various tissues such as lung small blood vessels, blood, bone marrow and spleen. For our experiments we have derived these cells from rat bone marrow. We believe that these bone marrow-derived EPCs, if injected into the lung blood vessels, can help repair the damaged blood vessels of the lungs and prevent progression of PH. To study the effect of these cells in treatment of PH we used a rat model of PH. Rats were injected with a plant toxin (monocrotaline; MCT) to induce PH. MCT injection caused hallmark signs of PH in the rats that are increased pressure in right side of the heart (right ventricular systolic pressure; RVSP) and right side heart enlargement (RV hypertrophy). Treatment with EPCs decreased the RVSP and RV hypertrophy and improved the survival as compared to the control animals. Together, we report beneficial effects of EPCs in preventing PH.