Perinatal hypoxia aggravates occlusive pulmonary vasculopathy in SU5416/hypoxia-treated rats later in life

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease, which is characterized by occlusive pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) in small pulmonary arteries. It remains unknown whether perinatal insults aggravate occlusive PVD later in life. We tested the hy-pothesis that perinatal hypoxia aggravates PVD and survival in rats. PVD was induced in rats with/without perinatal hypoxia (em-bryonic day 14 to postnatal day 3) by injecting SU5416 at 7 wk of age and subsequent exposure to hypoxia for 3 wk (SU5416/ hypoxia). Hemodynamic and morphological analyses were performed in rats with/without perinatal hypoxia at 7 wk of age (base-line rats, n = 12) and at 15 wk of age in 4 groups of rats: SU5416/hypoxia or control rats with/without perinatal hypoxia (n = 40). Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) from the baseline rats with/without perinatal hypoxia were used to assess cell proliferation, inflammation, and genomic DNA methylation profile. Although perinatal hypoxia alone did not affect survival, physi-ological, or pathological parameters at baseline or at the end of the experimental period in controls, perinatal hypoxia decreased weight gain and survival rate and increased right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and indices of PVD in SU5416/hypoxia rats. Perinatal hypoxia alone accelerated the proliferation and inflammation of cultured PASMCs from baseline rats, which was associated with DNA methylation. In conclusion, we established the first fatal animal model of PAH with worsen-ing hemodynamics and occlusive PVD elicited by perinatal hypoxia, which was associated with hyperproliferative, proinflamma-tory, and epigenetic changes in cultured PASMCs. These findings provide insights into the treatment and prevention of occlusive PVD.

Automated summary

Perinatal hypoxia may worsen occlusive pulmonary vascular disease in pulmonary arterial hypertension, leading to worsening hemodynamics and survival rate, as well as increased right ventricular hypertrophy and indicators of PVD. Perinatal hypoxia accelerates the proliferation and inflammation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, which is associated with DNA methylation.