Lung hypoplasia and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (DH) lead to a high 
perinatal mortality. Although sustained fetoscopic tracheal occlusion (TO) improves lung development, a major side effect is abnormal pneumocyte differentiation. This study evaluated the potential ability of intra-tracheal retinoic acid (RA) administration to reduce adverse effects of sustained TO in a rabbit model of DH.A left diaphragmatic defect was created on d23 in time-dated pregnant rabbits. On d28, the same rabbits underwent sham surgery or TO, with an injection of empty or RA-loaded liposomes. On d30, the fetuses were harvested, and the lungs were processed for histology, immunohistochemistry and gene expression quantification.
Read more here: http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/29577352
