Role of the pericytes of intra-acinar pulmonary artery in the structural remodeling of pulmonary vessels.

Whether or not the pericytes exist in the intra-acinar pulmonary arteries and their normal structure and morphological changes during development of the structural remodeling of pulmonary vessels were observed using a pulmonary hypertension model in rats induced by monocrotaline injection. The results showed that the pericytes in the peripheral pulmonary vessels proliferated and transformed into smooth muscle cells during development of pulmonary hypertension, and at the same time, the pericytes could synthesize and secrete extracellular matrix including collagen, suggesting that the pericytes play an important role in the development of pulmonary hypertension and structural remodeling of the pulmonary vessels.