Is Doppler echocardiography estimate of pulmonary artery systolic pressure accurate in all pulmonary arterial hypertension patients with severe right ventricular failure?

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by enhanced pulmonary vascular resistance with subsequent remodeling and right ventricular hypertrophy. Vascular reactivity and ventricular function were investigated in rats with monocrotaline-induced PAH and treated with a new N-acylhydrazone derivative named as LASSBio-1359. METHODS: Protocols were approved by Animal Care and Use Committee at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Male Wistar rats received a single i.p. injection of monocrotaline (MCT) (60 mg/kg) for PAH induction and were randomly divided in groups which were treated with: saline, vehicle and LASSBio-1359 (50 mg/kg p.o.). After 14 days of treatment, some parameters were evaluated: pulmonary acceleration time (PAT); right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP); vascular reactivity to acetylcholine; expression of iNOS in pulmonary tissue; wall thickness of pulmonary artery (PAWT). Results: PAT (ms) was increased from 26.2 ± 2.8 to 41.3 ± 3.9 in PAH group treated with vehicle (n=8, p<0.05) and was reduced to 24.2 ± 1.7 when PAH group was treated with LASSBio-1359. RVSP (mmHg) increased from 26.0 ± 2.0 to 55.2 ± 2.3 in PAH group (p<0.05) but was similar to control after treatment with LASSBio-1359 (31.8 ± 2.3 mm Hg). Ratio of right ventricle and body weight (mg/g) was 0.66 ± 0.02, 1.63 ± 0.16 and 0.87 ± 0.10 for control, vehicle- and LASSBio-1359-treated PAH groups, respectively. PAH promoted ventricular dysfunction which was reduced by LASSBio-1359. The pulmonary artery maximum relaxation (%) was 57.3 ± 5.5, 43.6 ± 1.2 and 61.4 ± 8.4 for control, vehicle and LASSBio-1359-treated groups indicating that PAH promoted endothelium injury which was recovered by LASSBio-1359. iNOS expression in pulmonary tissue was increased from 0.48 ± 1.31 to 0.98 ± 3.14 in PAH group and reduced to 0.53 ± 1.83 in rats treated with LASSBio-1359. The PAWT (%) were increased from 74.1 ± 1.3 to 90.2 ± 2.7 in PAH group (p<0.05) but was 74.4 ± 1.3 when treated with LASSBio-1359. This compound showed an in vitro vasodilatory activity mediated by activation of adenosinergic A2A receptor. Conclusion: LASSBio-1359 reduced ventricular and vascular dysfunction in monocrotaline-induced PAH in rats indicating a possible new alternative to treat PAH.

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Hot topics in the mechanisms of pulmonary arterial hypertension disease: cancer-like pathobiology, the role of the adventitia, systemic involvement, and right ventricular failure

Pulmonary Circulation ◽

10.1177/2045894019889775 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 204589401988977 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Edda Spiekerkoetter ◽

Elena A. Goncharova ◽

Christophe Guignabert ◽

Kurt Stenmark ◽

Grazyna Kwapiszewska ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension ◽

Right Ventricle ◽

Arterial Hypertension ◽

Right Ventricular ◽

Systemic Disease ◽

Right Ventricular Failure ◽

Lung Pathology ◽

Ventricular Failure ◽

Disease Pathogenesis ◽

Pulmonary Arterial

In order to intervene appropriately and develop disease-modifying therapeutics for pulmonary arterial hypertension, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and progression. We herein discuss four topics of disease mechanisms that are currently highly debated, yet still unsolved, in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Is pulmonary arterial hypertension a cancer-like disease? Does the adventitia play an important role in the initiation of pulmonary vascular remodeling? Is pulmonary arterial hypertension a systemic disease? Does capillary loss drive right ventricular failure? While pulmonary arterial hypertension does not replicate all features of cancer, anti-proliferative cancer therapeutics might still be beneficial in pulmonary arterial hypertension if monitored for safety and tolerability. It was recognized that the adventitia as a cell-rich compartment is important in the disease pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension and should be a therapeutic target, albeit the data are inconclusive as to whether the adventitia is involved in the initiation of neointima formation. There was agreement that systemic diseases can lead to pulmonary arterial hypertension and that pulmonary arterial hypertension can have systemic effects related to the advanced lung pathology, yet there was less agreement on whether idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension is a systemic disease per se. Despite acknowledging the limitations of exactly assessing vascular density in the right ventricle, it was recognized that the failing right ventricle may show inadequate vascular adaptation resulting in inadequate delivery of oxygen and other metabolites. Although the debate was not meant to result in a definite resolution of the specific arguments, it sparked ideas about how we might resolve the discrepancies by improving our disease modeling (rodent models, large-animal studies, studies of human cells, tissues, and organs) as well as standardization of the models. Novel experimental approaches, such as lineage tracing and better three-dimensional imaging of experimental as well as human lung and heart tissues, might unravel how different cells contribute to the disease pathology.

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Is Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy for Right Ventricular Failure in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension of Benefit?

Pulmonary Circulation ◽

10.1086/678470 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 552-559 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jason T. Rasmussen ◽

Thenappan Thenappan ◽

David G. Benditt ◽

E. Kenneth Weir ◽

Marc R. Pritzker

Keyword(s):

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension ◽

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy ◽

Arterial Hypertension ◽

Right Ventricular ◽

Right Ventricular Failure ◽

Cardiac Resynchronization ◽

Resynchronization Therapy ◽

Ventricular Failure ◽

Pulmonary Arterial

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Transcriptomic Signature of Right Ventricular Failure in Experimental Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Deep Sequencing Demonstrates Mitochondrial, Fibrotic, Inflammatory and Angiogenic Abnormalities

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms19092730 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 (9) ◽

pp. 2730 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Francois Potus ◽

Charles Hindmarch ◽

Kimberly Dunham-Snary ◽

Jeff Stafford ◽

Stephen Archer

Keyword(s):

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension ◽

Arterial Hypertension ◽

Right Ventricular ◽

Transforming Growth Factor ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Right Ventricular Failure ◽

Matricellular Protein ◽

Ventricular Failure ◽

Transcriptomic Signature ◽

Pulmonary Arterial

Right ventricular failure (RVF) remains the leading cause of death in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We investigated the transcriptomic signature of RVF in hemodynamically well-phenotyped monocrotaline (MCT)-treated, male, Sprague-Dawley rats with severe PAH and decompensated RVF (increased right ventricular (RV) end diastolic volume (EDV), decreased cardiac output (CO), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and ventricular-arterial decoupling). RNA sequencing revealed 2547 differentially regulated transcripts in MCT-RVF RVs. Multiple enriched gene ontology (GO) terms converged on mitochondria/metabolism, fibrosis, inflammation, and angiogenesis. The mitochondrial transcriptomic pathway is the most affected in RVF, with 413 dysregulated genes. Downregulated genes included TFAM (−0.45-fold), suggesting impaired mitochondrial biogenesis, CYP2E1 (−3.8-fold), a monooxygenase which when downregulated increases oxidative stress, dehydrogenase/reductase 7C (DHRS7C) (−2.8-fold), consistent with excessive autonomic activation, and polypeptide N-acetyl-galactose-aminyl-transferase 13 (GALNT13), a known pulmonary hypertension (PH) biomarker (−2.7-fold). The most up-regulated gene encodes Periostin (POSTN; 4.5-fold), a matricellular protein relevant to fibrosis. Other dysregulated genes relevant to fibrosis include latent-transforming growth factor beta-binding protein 2 (LTBP2), thrombospondin4 (THBS4). We also identified one dysregulated gene relevant to all disordered transcriptomic pathways, ANNEXIN A1. This anti-inflammatory, phospholipid-binding mediator, is a putative target for therapy in RVF-PAH. Comparison of expression profiles in the MCT-RV with published microarray data from the RV of pulmonary artery-banded mice and humans with bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 2 (BMPR2)-mutations PAH reveals substantial conservation of gene dysregulation, which may facilitate clinical translation of preclinical therapeutic and biomarkers studies. Transcriptomics reveals the molecular fingerprint of RVF to be heavily characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction, fibrosis and inflammation.

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