Andrew V. Stainsby, Philip L. J. DeKoninck, Kelly J. Crossley, Alison Thiel, Megan J. Wallace, James T. Pearson, Aidan J. Kashyap, Michelle K. Croughan, Beth A. Allison, Ryan Hodges, Marta Thio, Andreas W. Flemmer, Erin V. McGillick, Arjan B. te Pas, Stuart B. Hooper, Marcus J. Kitchen
Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Victoria Heart Institute and Monash Biomedicine Institute, and School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University. Erasmus MC University Medical Center and Sophia Children’s Hospital. National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center. The Royal Women’s Hospital and University of Melbourne. Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital and Perinatal Center. Leiden University Medical Center.
Australia, Netherlands, Japan and Germany
Anatomical Record
Anat Rec 2023;
DOI: 10.1002/ar.25159
Abstract
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a major cause of severe lung hypoplasia and pulmonary hypertension in the newborn. While the pulmonary hypertension is thought to result from abnormal vascular development and arterial vasoreactivity, the anatomical changes in vascular development are unclear. We have examined the 3D structure of the pulmonary arterial tree in rabbits with a surgically induced diaphragmatic hernia (DH). Fetal rabbits (n = 6) had a left-sided DH created at gestational day 23 (GD23), delivered at GD30, and briefly ventilated; sham-operated litter mates (n = 5) acted as controls. At postmortem the pulmonary arteries were filled with a radio-opaque resin before the lungs were scanned using computed tomography (CT). The 3D reconstructed images were analyzed based on vascular branching hierarchy using the software Avizo 2020.2. DH significantly reduced median number of arteries (2,579 (8440) versus 576 (442), p = .017), artery numbers per arterial generation, mean total arterial volume (43.5 ± 8.4 vs. 19.9 ± 3.1 μl, p = .020) and mean total arterial cross-sectional area (82.5 ± 2.3 vs. 28.2 ± 6.2 mm2 , p =.036). Mean arterial radius was increased in DH kittens between the eighth and sixth branching generation and mean arterial length between the sixth and 28th branching generation. A DH in kittens resulted in threefold reduction in pulmonary arterial cross-sectional area, primarily due to reduced arterial branching. Thus, the reduction in arterial cross-sectional area could be a major contributor to pulmonary hypertension infants with CDH.
Category
Class III. Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Lung Hypoplasia
Animal Models of Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Therapy
Pulmonary Vascular Pathology
Age Focus: Pediatric Pulmonary Vascular Disease
Fresh or Filed Publication: Filed (PHiled). Greater than 1-2 years since publication
Article Access
Free PDF File or Full Text Article Available Through PubMed or DOI: Yes