Investigators in the Emory Pulmonary, Allergy. Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division are exploring basic mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in the pulmonary circulation. Although less prevalent than disorders associated with systemic vascular disease, pulmonary hypertension is an often progressive and fatal disorder for which new therapies are urgently needed.
The focus of vascular biology investigation in the Emory Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division centers on advancing understanding of basic mechanisms of pathogenesis in order to reveal new and potentially more effective therapeutic targets. Current studies are focused on examining the causes and role of metabolic dysregulation in the abnormal proliferation and function of cells that line the pulmonary vasculature.
Active projects examine cells and tissues from control and pulmonary hypertension patients and employ rat and mouse models of pulmonary hypertension. Models include wild type and knockout or transgenic mice with gain-or loss-of-function in targeted genes. In vitro studies employ cultured cells from the vascular wall including endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. Techniques employed involve physiological, cell, and molecular biology approaches to explore mechanistic hypotheses. Approaches include measurements of systemic and pulmonary vascular pressures, vascular ring reactivity, lung resistance, and compliance determinations, measurement of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in cells and tissues, analysis of signaling pathways, gene and protein expression, and definition of mitochondrial and metabolic function to name a few. Frequently, existing or novel pharmacological agents are examined for their ability to correct pulmonary hypertension-associated cellular derangements. These agents are then examined in vivo for their ability to prevent or reverse pulmonary hypertension in vivo.