{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T20:28:50Z","timestamp":1773865730301,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]],"date-time":"2025-11-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1762214400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100005825","name":"USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2023-67012-39756"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023-67012-39756"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100005825","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["5R01DK083890-13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5R01DK083890-13"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ARM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Essential hypertension is associated with an increased risk of pulmonary hypertension (PH). PH is diagnosed more frequently in females. Little is known about the effects of a plant-based diet (PBD) in improving lung abnormalities in PH. Methods: We compared 28- and 40-week-old female normotensive Wistar Kyoto and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), maintained from the age of 4 weeks on a control refined diet or a PBD, comprising 28% fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. A subset of control SHRs were switched to the PBD at 28 weeks of age. Lungs were taken for protein and histological analysis. Results: Relative to WKYs, SHRs consuming the control diet exhibited decreased lung endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). PBD consumption by SHRs prevented and reversed this phenotype. Expression of E-cadherin was also reduced in SHRs. This reduction was attenuated by PBD consumption treatment. The phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1\/2 in the lung was increased in SHRs and attenuated by PBD. The expression of activated transforming growth factor (TGF)-\u03b21 was also attenuated by a PBD. Conclusions: The PBD favorably mediated hypertension-induced pulmonary molecular abnormalities in lung endothelium, epithelial junction and pro-fibrotic signaling. Future studies should assess the effects of a PBD in improving PH and lung function.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/arm93060049","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,5]],"date-time":"2025-11-05T07:58:05Z","timestamp":1762329485000},"page":"49","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A Plant-Based Diet Alleviates Molecular Pulmonary Abnormalities in Hypertension"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"93","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5348-3008","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rami Salim","family":"Najjar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA"},{"name":"Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30307, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jaishree","family":"Jagirdar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrew T.","family":"Gewirtz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e024969","DOI":"10.1161\/JAHA.121.024969","article-title":"Mortality in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in the Modern Era: Early Insights From the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry","volume":"11","author":"Chang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. 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