The protective effects of prostacyclin and its stable analogue iloprost are mediated by elevation of intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) leading to enhancement of the peripheral actin cytoskeleton and cell-cell adhesive structures. This study tested the hypothesis that iloprost may exhibit protective effects against lung injury and endothelial barrier dysfunction induced by bacterial wall lipopolys...

The increased use of inhaled nicotine via e-cigarettes has unknown risks to lung health. Having previously shown that cigarette smoke (CS) extract disrupts the lung microvasculature barrier function by endothelial cell activation and cytoskeletal rearrangement, we investigated the contribution of nicotine in CS or e-cigarettes (e-Cig) to lung endothelial injury. Primary lung microvascular endot...

Tight regulation of vascular permeability is necessary for normal development and deregulated vascular barrier function contributes to the pathogenesis of various diseases, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, cancer and inflammation. The angiopoietin (Ang)-Tie2 pathway is known to control vascular permeability. However, the mechanism by which the expression of Tie2 is regulated to co...

Pneumonia in cattle is an important disease both economically and in terms of animal welfare. Recent evidence in other species has shown ATP to be an important modulator of inflammation in the lung, where it is released by activated alveolar macrophages and damaged lung cells. Whether ATP serves a similar process during infection in the bovine lung is unknown. In the present study, we examined ...

The blood-air barrier in the lung consists of the alveolar epithelium, the underlying capillary endothelium, their basement membranes and the interstitial space between the cell layers. Little is known about the interactions between the alveolar and the blood compartment. The aim of the present study was to gain first insights into the possible interplay between these two neighbored cell layers...

Vascular endothelial integrity, assessed by Evans blue dye extrusion and radiolabeled monoclonal antibody leakage, was markedly compromised in the brain, lung, kidney, and heart during Plasmodium berghei infection, a well-recognized model for human cerebral malaria. The results for vascular permeability from both methods were significantly (P < 0.001) related.

Joshi AD, Barabutis N, Birmpas C, Dimitropoulou C, Thangjam G, Cherian-Shaw M, Dennison J, Catravas JD. Histone deacetylase inhibitors prevent pulmonary endothelial hyper-permeability and acute lung injury by regulating heat shock protein 90 function. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 309: L1410–L1419, 2015. First published October 23, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00180.2015.—Transendothelial hyp...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by the influx of protein-rich edematous fluid into the airspaces due to increased permeability of the alveolar-capillary barrier. Inflammatory mediators are thought to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of this disorder. In this issue of the JCI, Zhao et al. report that the forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) transcription factor induces endothelial regenerati...

Lung inflammatory disease is characterized by increased polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) infiltration and vascular permeability. PMN infiltration into tissue involves signaling between endothelial cells and migrating PMNs, which leads to alterations in the organization of adherens junctions (AJs). We addressed the possible role of the protein constituents of AJs, endothelium-specific vascular-...

Prostaglandin I(2) (PGI(2)) has been shown to attenuate vascular constriction, hyperpermeability, inflammation, and acute lung injury. However, molecular mechanisms of PGI(2) protective effects on pulmonary endothelial cells (EC) are not well understood. We tested a role of cAMP-activated Epac-Rap1 pathway in the barrier protective effects of PGI(2) analog iloprost in the murine model of ventil...