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Balistreri. Vessel Plus 2018;2:25 Vessel Plus
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1209.2018.35

Review Open Access

Fetal programming and its effects on vascular
pulmonary circulation

Carmela Rita Balistreri
Department of Pathobiology and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Palermo, Palermo 90134, Italy.

Correspondence to: Dr. Carmela Rita Balistreri, Department of Pathobiology and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Palermo,
Palermo 90134, Italy. E-mail: carmelarita.balistreri@unipa.it

How to cite this article: Balistreri CR. Fetal programming and its effects on vascular pulmonary circulation. Vessel Plus 2018;2:25.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1209.2018.35

Received: 17 May 2018 First Decision: 8 Aug 2018 Revised: 17 Aug 2018 Accepted: 21 Aug 2018 Published: 19 Sep 2018
Science Editor: Alexander D. Verin Copy Editor: Yuan-Li Wang Production Editor: Zhong-Yu Guo

Abstract
Into the scientific community, consensus about the emerging concept of “the fetal origin of adult diseases” is growing.
It sustains that the parental (of the two parents) adversities, and the related external influences, during the intra-utero/
perinatal life of each eutherian mammal organism, human included, can permanently set the structure and functionality
of specific body systems (i.e., immune, endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular systems), predisposing them to early
ageing and disease during adulthood. The pulmonary circulation system also appears to be one of its targets. Established
evidence supports the strong association between developmental programming and pulmonary arterial remodeling and
dysfunction. Here, a revised overview of this topic is reported, by stressing the efforts and advances in identifying the
molecular and cellular mechanisms and pathways involved.

Keywords: Developmental programming, pulmonary circulation system, adult pulmonary arterial remodeling and
dysfunction

INTRODUCTION
Lung represents an essential organ for human life, having an exclusive circulation system for functions
[1]
and volume. Specifically, it has two circulations: the pulmonary and bronchial circulations . Moreover,
pulmonary arteries (PAs) and veins have two different functions: the gas replacement and oxygenation
[1]
of blood, respectively . In addition, pulmonary circulation has the distinctive feature of being able to
accommodate the entire cardiac output, by preserving a high blood flow, but maintaining the intravascular
arterial pressure at a reduced value. Another feature, which distinguishes the lung circulation system as
[1]
unique, is the structure of arterial wall . Accordingly, PAs have walls, which appear thinner than those

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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and indicate if changes were made.

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