Lynne M. Reid, M.D.

Structural Remodeling of the Pulmonary Vasculature by Environmental Change and Disease

Lynne M. Reid, M.D.S.

Burt Wolbach Professor of Pathology,

Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School,

Boston, Massachusetts

Structural Remodelling of the Pulmonary Vasculature by Environmental Change and Disease

The article is an autobiographical account of Lynne M. Reid, a pioneer in the field of pulmonary pathology and lung research. it covers her personal and professional journey, from her early education in Australia and England, to her ground-breaking discoveries on the structure and function of the pulmonary vasculature, to her collaborations and friendships with eminent scientists and clinicians.
– The article also highlights some of the challenges and opportunities she faced as a woman in science, as well as some of the scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts that occurred during her career.in particular She reflects on some of the difficulties and advantages she faced as a female researcher in a male-dominated field, and how she overcame them with perseverance and grace.
– She highlights some of the major breakthroughs and controversies that occurred during her career, such as the definition and diagnosis of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and primary pulmonary hypertension, and the use of experimental pathology and animal models to study lung diseases. which involve many aspect of pulmonary vascular diseases. She reflected on her work:

1. Hypoxia model*described the structural and functional changes in the pulmonary vasculature caused by chronic hypoxia in rats, such as muscularization, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and increased pulmonary pressure. she also discusses the recovery and reversibility of these changes after return to air.
2.  She explores the vascular injury of high oxygen exposure in rats, such as necrosis, oedema, obliteration, and remodelling of small arteries and veins. She also examines the recovery and persistence of pulmonary hypertension after gradual weaning to air.
3. Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, she reports the findings of excessive muscularization of intraacinar arteries in infants who died from persistent pulmonary hypertension associated with meconium aspiration or other conditions. She suggests that this structural abnormality is present before birth and is not caused by hypoxia or indomethacin.
4. She summarizes the laws of lung development for airways, alveoli, and vessels, and how they are affected by various congenital or acquired conditions.
5. She also investigates the pulmonary vascular changes in patients with liver cirrhosis and finds diffuse arterial dilatation on the arterial side of the capillary bed and suggests a cytokine-mediated mechanism.

Read More:Lynne M. Reid, M.D.

More Biography: Changing the Face of Medicine | Lynne McArthur Reid (nih.gov)