ARDS: what experimental models have taught us

Excerpt

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by severe pulmonary inflammation, increased blood–gas barrier permeability, and hypoxemia, resulting in high mortality rates. Despite extensive research, there is still no specific therapy for ARDS and management remains supportive, mostly in the form of protective mechanical ventilation. These limited therapeutic options result from the complexity of ARDS pathophysiology, which involves multiple, overlapping signaling pathways depending on etiology. ARDS models are important to elucidate the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis, progression, and resolution of this syndrome, as well as to develop therapeutic approaches [1]. This brief review will address the main features of human ARDS that may be modeled experimentally, major current models of ARDS, and what these models have taught us concerning pathophysiology and new therapeutic strategies. …