Review Article
Animal Models of Pulmonary Hypertension: Matching Disease Mechanisms to Etiology of the Human Disease
Kelley L. Colvin1,2,3,4 and Michael E. Yeager1,2,3,4*1Deptartment of Pediatrics-Critical Care, University of Colorado Denver, USA
2Cardiovascular Pulmonary Research, USA
3Department of Bioengineering, University of Colorado Denver, USA
4Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Michael E. Yeager
12700 E. 19th Ave Box B131
Aurora CO USA 80045
Tel: 3037244193
E-mail: [email protected]
Received date: May 07, 2014; Accepted date: August 01, 2014; Published date: August 04, 2014
Citation: Colvin KL, Yeager ME (2014) Animal Models of Pulmonary Hypertension: Matching Disease Mechanisms to Etiology of the Human Disease. J Pulm Respir Med 4:198. doi:10.4172/2161-105X.1000198
Copyright: © 2014 Yeager ME, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Recently a great deal of progress has been made in our understanding of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Research from the past 30 years has resulted in newer treatments that provide symptomatic improvements and delayed disease progression. Unfortunately, the cure for patients with this lethal syndrome remains stubbornly elusive. With the relative explosion of scientific literature regarding PH, confusion has arisen regarding animal models of the disease and their correlation to the human condition. This short review uniquely focuses on the clear and present need to better correlate mechanistic insights from existing and emerging animal models of PH to specific etiologies and histopathologies of human PH. A better understanding of the pathologic processes in various animal models and how they relate to the human disease should accelerate the development of newer and more efficacious therapies.
