scholarly journals Folic acid, either solely or combined with L‐citrulline, improves NO signaling and ameliorates chronic hypoxia‐induced pulmonary hypertension in newborn pigs

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (21) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Douglass ◽  
Anna Dikalova ◽  
Mark R. Kaplowitz ◽  
Yongmei Zhang ◽  
Gary Cunningham ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (4) ◽  
pp. L762-L772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dikalova ◽  
Judy L. Aschner ◽  
Mark R. Kaplowitz ◽  
Gary Cunningham ◽  
Marshall Summar ◽  
...  

Newborn pigs with chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (PH) have evidence of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) uncoupling. In this model, we showed that therapies that promote eNOS coupling, either tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), a NOS cofactor, or l-citrulline, a NO-l-arginine precursor, inhibit PH. We wanted to determine whether cotreatment with l-citrulline and a BH4 compound, sapropterin dihydrochloride, improves NO signaling and chronic hypoxia-induced PH more markedly than either alone. Normoxic (control) and hypoxic piglets were studied. Some hypoxic piglets received sole treatment with l-citrulline or BH4, or were cotreated with l-citrulline and BH4, from day 3 through day 10 of hypoxia. Catheters were placed for hemodynamic measurements, and pulmonary arteries were dissected to assess eNOS dimer-to-monomer ratios and NO production. In untreated hypoxic piglets, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) was higher and NO production and eNOS dimer-to-monomer ratios were lower than in normoxic piglets. Compared with the untreated hypoxic group, PVR was lower in hypoxic piglets cotreated with l-citrulline and BH4 and in those treated with l-citrulline alone but not for those treated solely with BH4. NO production and eNOS dimer-to-monomer ratios were greater for all three treated hypoxic groups compared with the untreated group. Notably, greater improvements in PVR, eNOS dimer-to-monomer ratios, and NO production were found in hypoxic piglets cotreated with l-citrulline and BH4 than in piglets treated with either alone. Cotreatment with l-citrulline and BH4 more effectively improves NO signaling and inhibits chronic hypoxia-induced PH than either treatment alone. Combination therapies may offer enhanced therapeutic capacity for challenging clinical conditions, such as chronic neonatal PH.


2002 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice D. Fike ◽  
Sandra L. Pfister ◽  
Mark R. Kaplowitz ◽  
Jane A. Madden

Pulmonary hypertension and blunted pulmonary vascular responses to ACh develop when newborn pigs are exposed to chronic hypoxia for 3 days. To determine whether a cyclooxygenase (COX)-dependent contracting factor, such as thromboxane, is involved with altered pulmonary vascular responses to ACh, newborn piglets were raised in 11% O2 (hypoxic) or room air (control) for 3 days. Small pulmonary arteries (100–400 μm diameter) were cannulated and pressurized, and their responses to ACh were measured before and after either the COX inhibitor indomethacin; a thromboxane synthesis inhibitor, dazoxiben or feregrelate; or the thromboxane-PGH2-receptor antagonist SQ-29548. In control arteries, indomethacin reversed ACh responses from dilation to constriction. In contrast, hypoxic arteries constricted to ACh before indomethacin and dilated to ACh after indomethacin. Furthermore, ACh constriction in hypoxic arteries was nearly abolished by either dazoxiben, feregrelate, or SQ-29548. These findings suggest that thromboxane is the COX-dependent contracting factor that underlies the constrictor response to ACh that develops in small pulmonary arteries of piglets exposed to 3 days of hypoxia. The early development of thromboxane-mediated constriction may contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in newborns.


1996 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 2078-2087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice D. Fike ◽  
Mark R. Kaplowitz

Fike, Candice D., and Mark R. Kaplowitz. Chronic hypoxia alters nitric oxide-dependent pulmonary vascular responses in lungs of newborn pigs. J. Appl. Physiol. 81(5): 2078–2087, 1996.—Almost all of the studies evaluating the effect of chronic hypoxia on lung nitric oxide production have been performed in adult animals. Because results of studies in adult lungs should not be extrapolated to represent the newborn lung, we performed studies to determine whether decreased nitric oxide production might be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in newborns. We kept newborn pigs in chambers filled with room air (control) or 11–12% O2 for either 3–5 (short) or 10–12 (long) days. Using isolated lungs, we measured pulmonary vascular responses to agents that either stimulate or inhibit the synthesis of nitric oxide. To define the vascular sites of altered production of nitric oxide, we applied the micropuncture technique and measured small venular pressures before and after treatment with a nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor. Pulmonary vascular responses to acetylcholine were blunted in chronically hypoxic piglets of both the short and long groups. The nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor had a different effect in the lungs of control piglets than in those of chronically hypoxic piglets of the long but not of the short group. For the long group, the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitors caused constriction of both arteries and veins in lungs of control but not of chronically hypoxic piglets. These findings support the idea that decreased pulmonary vascular nitric oxide production occurs with chronic hypoxia in newborn pigs and might therefore contribute to the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension in newborns.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (1) ◽  
pp. L199-L208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Herget ◽  
Jana Novotná ◽  
Jana Bíbová ◽  
Viera Povýšilová ◽  
Marie Vaňková ◽  
...  

Chronic hypoxia induces lung vascular remodeling, which results in pulmonary hypertension. We hypothesized that a previously found increase in collagenolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinases during hypoxia promotes pulmonary vascular remodeling and hypertension. To test this hypothesis, we exposed rats to hypoxia (fraction of inspired oxygen = 0.1, 3 wk) and treated them with a metalloproteinase inhibitor, Batimastat (30 mg/kg body wt, daily ip injection). Hypoxia-induced increases in concentration of collagen breakdown products and in collagenolytic activity in pulmonary vessels were inhibited by Batimastat, attesting to the effectiveness of Batimastat administration. Batimastat markedly reduced hypoxic pulmonary hypertension: pulmonary arterial blood pressure was 32 ± 3 mmHg in hypoxic controls, 24 ± 1 mmHg in Batimastat-treated hypoxic rats, and 16 ± 1 mmHg in normoxic controls. Right ventricular hypertrophy and muscularization of peripheral lung vessels were also diminished. Batimastat had no influence on systemic arterial pressure or cardiac output and was without any effect in rats kept in normoxia. We conclude that stimulation of collagenolytic activity in chronic hypoxia is a substantial causative factor in the pathogenesis of pulmonary vascular remodeling and hypertension.


1993 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 1748-1757 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Hampl ◽  
S. L. Archer ◽  
D. P. Nelson ◽  
E. K. Weir

It has been suggested that chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension results from chronic hypoxic inhibition of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) synthesis. We tested this hypothesis by studying whether chronic EDRF inhibition by N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) would induce pulmonary hypertension similar to that found in chronic hypoxia. L-NAME (1.85 mM) was given for 3 wk in drinking water to rats living in normoxia or hypoxia. Unlike chronic hypoxia, chronic L-NAME treatment did not increase pulmonary arterial pressure. Cardiac output was reduced and mean systemic arterial pressure was increased by chronic L-NAME treatment. The vascular pressure-flow relationship in isolated lungs was shifted toward higher pressures by chronic hypoxia and, to a lesser degree, by L-NAME intake. In isolated lungs, vasoconstriction in response to angiotensin II and acute hypoxia and vasodilation in response to sodium nitroprusside were increased by chronic L-NAME treatment in normoxia and chronic hypoxia. Chronic hypoxia, but not L-NAME, induced hypertensive pulmonary vascular remodeling. Chronic supplementation with the EDRF precursor L-arginine did not have any significant effect on chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. We conclude that the chronic EDRF deficiency state, induced by L-NAME, does not mimic chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in our model. In addition, EDRF proved to be less important for basal tone regulation in the pulmonary than in the systemic circulation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (2) ◽  
pp. H155-H162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayoko Ogura ◽  
Tatsuo Shimosawa ◽  
ShengYu Mu ◽  
Takashi Sonobe ◽  
Fumiko Kawakami-Mori ◽  
...  

Chronic hypoxia is one of the main causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with ROS production. Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor (LOX)-1 is known to be an endothelial receptor of oxidized low-density lipoprotein, which is assumed to play a role in the initiation of ROS generation. We investigated the role of LOX-1 and ROS generation in PH and vascular remodeling in LOX-1 transgenic (TG) mice. We maintained 8- to 10-wk-old male LOX-1 TG mice and wild-type (WT) mice in normoxia (room air) or hypoxia (10% O2 chambers) for 3 wk. Right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure (RVSP) was comparable between the two groups under normoxic conditions; however, chronic hypoxia significantly increased RVSP and RV hypertrophy in LOX-1 TG mice compared with WT mice. Medial wall thickness of the pulmonary arteries was significantly greater in LOX-1 TG mice than in WT mice. Furthermore, hypoxia enhanced ROS production and nitrotyrosine expression in LOX-1 TG mice, supporting the observed pathological changes. Administration of the NADPH oxidase inhibitor apocynin caused a significant reduction in PH and vascular remodeling in LOX-1 TG mice. Our results suggest that LOX-1-ROS generation induces the development and progression of PH.


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