Excess Neuropeptides Disrupt Lung Function in Infant Disease and COVID-19 Excess fluid in the lung c

Excess Neuropeptides Disrupt Lung Function in Infant Disease and COVID-19 Excess fluid in the lung can significantly disrupt lung function and gas exchange, but researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine were surprised to find that neuropeptides may be to blame. In a study published March 17, 2022 in the journal Developmental Cell, scientists show that excessive neuropeptide secretion by neuroendocrine cells in the lungs can lead to fluid buildup and poor oxygenation. However, blocking the neuropeptide signals with receptor antagonists prevented the leakage and improved blood-oxygen levels, suggesting that neuropeptides may be a promising therapeutic target for conditions marked by excess lung fluid.This mechanism was discovered in the context of neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy (NEHI), a lung disease affecting infants in which lung size and structure appear normal but blood-oxygen levels are consistently low. Its defining feature is an increase in the number of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs), but until now, physicians did not know how these cells contributed to the disease.In the new study, researchers confirmed that PNECs and their neuropeptide products are the drivers of NEHI, but also showed that PNEC numbers were increased in the lungs of COVID-19 patients with excess lung fluid. This suggests a similar mechanism may contribute to COVID-19 symptoms. The study was led by Xin Sun, PhD, professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Division of Biological Sciences.“We were surprised to find that neuropeptides can play such a major role in gas exchange,” said Sun. “Researchers are just starting to appreciate the relationship between the nervous system and the lungs, but the more we understand it, the more we can modulate it to treat disease.”Pictured above:  An angiogram of blood vessels in the NEHI mouse lung shows multiple sites of fluid leakage, marked by yellow arrowheads. — Nicole Mlynaryk, Bigelow Science Communication Fellow -- source link

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