TISSUE REMODELING OF SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS IN PULMONARY BLOOD VESSELS

这个子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和调查员(PI)可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可能会出现在其他CRISE条目中。列出的机构是针对中心的，而不一定是针对调查员的机构。居住在高海拔地区的人，以及患有肺病和心脏病的人，都会患上肺动脉高压。根据美国国家慢性病预防和健康促进中心的一项调查，1995至1998年间，美国有570,461名患者因肺动脉高压住院。高血压对疾病进展的影响与肺血管的组织重塑有关。广泛的文献检索表明，关于血管的组织重塑仍有许多未知之处。我们的初步工作(参考文献1-5)已经开始了，但还需要做更多的工作，特别是在血管平滑肌细胞上。本课题主要研究肺血管平滑肌细胞的超微结构，试图了解细胞和细胞成分(如细胞形态、细胞取向、细胞数量、肌动蛋白细丝、微管、细胞核等)对血压和血流变化的反应，并试图找出肺动脉、小动脉、静脉和肺膜之间的超微结构差异。我们的研究将有助于我们了解高血压引起的肺血管平滑肌细胞组织重塑的机制。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Pulmonary hypertension afflicts people living in high altitude, and people with lung and heart diseases. According to a survey by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, there were 570,461 patients hospitalized with pulmonary hypertension between 1995 and 1998 in the USA. The effects of hypertension on the progress of the disease are associated with tissue remodeling of the pulmonary blood vessels. Extensive literature search showed that much remains unknown about the tissue remodeling of blood vessels. Our preliminary work (refs. 1-5) made a beginning, but much more needs to be done, especially on the vascular smooth muscle cells. In this project, we focus on the ultrastructure of smooth muscle cells in pulmonary blood vessels, try to understand how the cell and cellular components (such as cell shape, cell orientation, cell number, actin filaments, microtubules, nucleus, etc) respond to the changes of blood pressure and blood flow, and try to find out the ultrastructural differences among pulmonary artery, arteriole, vein, and velune. Our study will help us understand the mechanism of tissue remodeling of smooth muscle cells in pulmonary blood vessels due to hypertension.