The authors noted that dietary intervention halted excess production of collagen in lung blood vessels that produce stiffness and hinder function, leading to heart failure, chronic lung disease, and death. The study was conducted by Dr. Chan and colleagues at the University of Pittsburg’s Division of Cardiology, who worked with the team of Thomas Bertero at the Université Côte d’Azur in France.
Using rodents and lung tissue of people with pulmonary hypertension, the researchers discovered that lung blood vessels have a voracious appetite for the amino acids serine and glutamine. It turns out that the metabolism of the two substances is the main driver of pulmonary hypertension progression. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which help make up structures and have multiple biological functions.
In pulmonary hypertension, when blood vessels in the lungs metabolize serine and glutamine, they synthesize two new amino acids—glycine and proline. These, in turn, are the main building blocks that comprise collagen protein, which makes up 30 percent of the body’s total protein, noted the press release. Collagen serves as the structural framework for the skin, connective tissues, bone, and muscles.
Like with any other bodily substance, levels that fall outside a normal range impair health. Because lung blood vessels in pulmonary hypertension have a highly increased appetite for serine and glutamine, it results in overproduction of collagen. This leads to blood .