Particles shed by cells alter lung vessels in newborn rats
In animal experiments, particles from senescent lung vessel cells—cells that had stopped dividing—induced high blood pressure in newborn rats’ lungs.
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Mechanisms- Studied:
- Experiments in animals
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Newborn rats given particles from senescent lung blood vessel cells developed changes in lung vessels in animal experiments. They also developed pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lungs. Senescence is a state in which cells stop dividing. The particles are called extracellular vesicles.
Newborn lung blood vessel cells exposed to 75% oxygen showed increased signs of senescence. In lung artery smooth muscle cells grown in the lab, vesicles from senescent cells reduced the activity of MEF2C, a gene involved in changes in smooth muscle cell behavior. Blocking vesicle uptake and inhibiting miR-421, a small RNA molecule that regulates gene activity, partly restored MEF2C activity.
Why it matters
Signals from senescent cells may offer a target for bronchopulmonary dysplasia, an infant lung disease, when it is complicated by high lung blood pressure, the authors suggest.
Caveats
The results in newborn rats and cells grown in the lab do not show whether targeting this signal would help infants with lung disease.
The paper
University of Miami
American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Nov 10, 2026
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