Gosemann, Jan-HendrikFriedmacher, FlorianHofmann, AlejandroZimmer, JuliaKuebler, Joachim F.Rittinghausen, SusanneSuttkus, AnneLacher, MartinAlvarez, LuisCorcionivoschi, NicolaePuri, Prem2021-06-112021-06-112018-11-12Gosemann, J.-H., Friedmacher, F., Hofmann, A., Zimmer, J., Kuebler, J. F., Rittinghausen, S., Suttkus, A., Lacher, M., Alvarez, L., Corcionivoschi, N. and Puri, P. (2018) ‘Prenatal treatment with rosiglitazone attenuates vascular remodeling and pulmonary monocyte influx in experimental congenital diaphragmatic hernia’, PLOS ONE. Edited by J. West, 13(11), p. e0206975. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206975.1932-6203https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206975Publication history: Accepted - 23 October 2018; Published online - 12 November 2018.Introduction Extensive vascular remodeling causing pulmonary hypertension (PH) represents a major cause of mortality in patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). The chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a biomarker for the severity of PH and its activation is accompanied by pulmonary influx of monocytes and extensive vascular remodeling. MCP-1 activation can be reversed by application of rosiglitazone (thiazolidinedione). We performed this study to evaluate the role of MCP-1 for the pathogenesis of PH in experimental CDH. We hypothesized that vascular remodeling and MCP-1 activation is accompanied by pulmonary influx of fetal monocytes and can be attenuated by prenatal treatment with rosiglitazone. Methods In a first set of experiments pregnant rats were treated with either nitrofen or vehicle on gestational day 9 (D9). Fetal lungs were harvested on D21 and divided into CDH and control. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot (WB), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to evaluate MCP-1 expression, activation, and localization. Quantification and localization of pulmonary monocytes/macrophages were carried out by IHC. In a second set of experiments nitrofen-exposed dams were randomly assigned to prenatal treatment with rosiglitazone or placebo on D18+D19. Fetal lungs were harvested on D21, divided into control, CDH+rosiglitazone, and CDH+placebo and evaluated by WB as well as IHC. Results Increased thickness of pulmonary arteries of CDH fetuses was accompanied by increased systemic and perivascular MCP-1 protein expression and significantly higher amounts of pulmonary monocytes/macrophages compared to controls (p<0.01). These effects were reversed by prenatal treatment with rosiglitazone (p<0.01 vs. CDH+P; control). Conclusion Prenatal treatment with rosiglitazone has the potential to attenuate activation of pulmonary MCP-1, pulmonary monocyte influx, and vascular remodeling in experimental CDH. These results provide a basis for future research on prenatal immunomodulation as a novel treatment strategy to decrease secondary effects of PH in CDH.en© 2018 Gosemann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Article