Grant: Project Grant

About 1800 babies are born extremely premature in Canada each year. Recent advances in medical care have improved their survival, but in half at the cost of a severe injury to the lung called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Babies with BPD suffer from a permanent disruption of normal lung development; therefore, they carry their lung disease with them their entire lives. The proposed work entails three complementary groups of experiments using: 1) cultured lung cells, 2) lung tissues from human infants who died with BPD and 3) newborn rats that develop long-term changes of BPD. We will confirm and define the involvement of a lipid type, known as ceramides, which our previous data suggest are important contributors to lung injury. In cells and whole animals, we will test desipramine, a drug which decreases production of ceramides, to determine its safety and efficacy in preventing injury. In lung tissues from human infants who died with BPD, we will examine for evidence of increased ceramides. Our research group is the only one in Canada with the facilities and expertise to perform the experiments as proposed. Overall, this work represents a critical step toward the translation of a promising line of therapy targeting molecules newly recognised to contribute to BPD, potentially improving the survival prospects and long-term health of Canadians born extremely premature.