The authors of a study titled “Engineered pulmonary artery tissues for measuring contractility, drug testing and disease modelling”, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology on Ferbruary 20, 2025, present an innovative technique to allow proxy evaluation of human pulmonary artery contractility. Vasoreactivity of the pulmonary arteries regulates blood flow through the lungs,they say, and excessive constriction of these vessels contributes to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which in turn may lead to right heart failure. Drug development is limited by laboratory models that cannot mimic the behaviour of human arteries, they note. To address this problem, researchers have developed EPATs (Engineered Pulmonary Artery Tissues) – 3D arterial structures, which closely mimic the contractility of the human pulmonary artery and respond predictably to vasoconstrictors and pulmonary arterial hypertension vasodilators. EPATs from pulmonary arterial hypertension patients show an enhanced contraction and relaxation response. The authors conclude by saying that EPATs represent a promising tool to advance the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Citation
Fellows AL, Quigley K, Leung V, Ainscough AJ, Wilkins MR, Barnett H, Miller D, Mayr M, Wojciak-Stothard B. Engineered pulmonary artery tissues for measuring contractility, drug testing and disease modelling. Br J Pharmacol. 2025 Feb 20. doi: 10.1111/bph.17462. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39979037.