In the present study, we investigated the effect of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) on PDGF-induced proliferation and collagen synthesis in PASMCs. Normal human PASMCs were incubated with and without PDGF-BB in the absence and presence of BMP4 for 0.5 to 24 h. Then the protein levels of collagen-I, p-Smad2/3, p-Smad1/5, and intracellular active TGFβ1, calpain activity and cell proliferation were measured. The results showed that BMP4 induced an increase in p-Smad1/5 but had no effect on the protein levels of collagen-I, p-Smad2/3, and intracellular active TGFβ1, and calpain activity in PASMCs. Nevertheless, BMP4 attenuated increases in proliferation and protein levels of collagen-I, p-Smad2/3, and intracellular active TGFβ1, and calpain activity in PDGF-BB-treated PASMCs. Moreover, BMP4 increased PKA activity and inhibition of PKA prevented the inhibitory effects of BMP4 on PDGF-BB-induced calpain activation in normal PASMCs. PKA activator forskolin recapitulated the suppressive effect of BMP4 on PDGF-induced calpain activation. Further, BMP4 prevented PDGF-induced decrease in calpain-2 phosphorylation at serine 369 in normal PASMCs. Finally, BMP4 did not attenuate PDGF-induced increases in proliferation, collagen-I protein levels, and calpain activation, and did not induce PKA activation and did not prevent PDGF-induced decrease in calpain-2 phosphorylation at serine 369 in PASMCs from IPAH patients. These data demonstrate that BMP4 inhibits PDGF-induced proliferation and collagen synthesis via PKA-mediated inhibition of calpain-2 in normal PASMCs. The inhibitory effects of BMP4 on PDGF-induced proliferation, collagen synthesis and calpain-2 activation are impaired in PASMCs from PAH patients, which may contribute to pulmonary vascular remodeling in PAH.