The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and distribution pattern of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in lung development during different stages, and to compare with a model of stimulated lung growth after tracheal ligation (TL) and with the teratogen model of induced congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and lung hypoplasia after nitrofen. Sprague-Dawley rat fetuses were obtained on gestational days 14, 17, and 21 (E14, E17, E21). For the experimental CDH group, pregnant rats were given 100 mg nitrofen on gestational day 9.5 (E9.5), and delivered E21. In another group, Sprague-Dawley rat fetuses were subjected to intrauterine tracheal ligation (TL) on gestational day 19 (E19), and delivered on day 21 (E21). All fetuses were delivered by cesarean section and lungs harvested. Lungs from 1-day-old newborn healthy, nonoperated rats were also obtained. Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis for CTGF was performed on the different lung sections. CTGF mRNA expression levels in hyperplastic lungs after TL, hypoplastic lungs and CDH after nitrofen administration, and fetal controls at E21 were analyzed with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Immunohistochemical staining for CTGF at E14 showed that it was merely localized to the epithelium of terminal bronchiole, increasing during gestation, being more abundant at E17 and at E21. In the CDH group, lungs had an immature appearance and CTGF protein expression was decreased in the epithelium of the distal airways compared to the control group at E21, and was mainly observed in the lung mesenchyme. In the TL group, CTGF expression was more abundant compared to the control group at E21, especially in the epithelium of the terminal bronchioles, with a decreasing expression pattern distally. In the newborn lungs, CTGF had a pattern of expression in the epithelium of terminal bronchiole similar to TL lungs. At the mRNA level, CTGF expression was increased after TL, and decreased in the teratogen model of CDH and lung hypoplasia after nitrofen administration. This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first report of CTGF expression pattern during lung development, and of an impaired expression in CDH lungs after nitrofen. CTGF is suggested to enhance alveologenesis and microvascular development at late stages of lung development, and a decreased expression could lead to the impaired alveologenesis and abnormal microvascular pulmonary bed observed in CDH lungs. Increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control lung growth could provide a key to develop novel therapeutic techniques to stimulate pre- and/or postnatal lung growth in infants with impaired lung growth and development, such in congenital diaphragmatic hernia.