Acute Lung Injury: The Injured Lung Endothelium, Therapeutic Strategies for Barrier Protection, and Vascular Biomarkers

摘要: The vascular endothelium can be considered as an organ/tissue which comprises a monolayer of endothelial cells serve semipermeable cellular barrier separating the inner space blood vessels from its surrounding tissue and to control exchange fluids between two compartments. Since pulmonary circulation receives entire cardiac output, large surface area lung microvasculature is well suited for sensing mechanical, chemical, injury by inhaled or circulating substances. This dynamically regulated through exposure these various stimuli physiological pathological origin serves regulate multiple key biological processes (including fluid balance solute transport compartments). For example, increase in permeability necessary feature body’s defense mechanism provide injured tissues with access leucocytes, resulting edema due extravasation. However, during conditions intense inflammation such observed acute severer form respiratory distress syndrome, becomes liability provides opportunity profound massive accumulation alveolar progressively leading failure. Alterations occur not only inflammatory disorders primarily caused sepsis, pneumonia, trauma result high rates patient morbidity mortality, but are attractive target therapeutic intervention subacute ischemia–reperfusion injury, radiation asthma. Thus, understanding mechanisms dysfunction vital management treatment enigmatic disorders.