Obesity and pulmonary hypertension (PH) are medical conditions, both characterized by augmented inflammation and oxidative stress. Some of the studies showed a possible correlation between obesity and PH. However, the exact role or contribution of obesity to the pathology of this pulmonary vascular disease is still unknown and needs further research.Animal experiments were conducted on monocrotaline (MCT) and hypoxia models of PH. Lean and obese Zucker rats or B6 mice of both gender were used for MCT or chronic hypoxia models, respectively. Lean and obese (male or female) Zucker rats or B6 mice were further divided into two groups, receiving either normal saline/normoxia exposure or MCT injection/hypoxia exposure for 5 weeks. Echocardiography, hemodynamic measurements and histology were performed to analyze various parameters, such as heart function and hypertrophy, hemodynamics, pulmonary vascular remodeling and lung inflammation.MCT injection resulted in the development of PH in both lean and obese male and female rats. Negligible differences in terms of PH severity were observed between lean and obese male rats at the end stage of the disease. Conversely, obese female rats developed more prominent and severe PH compared to their lean counterparts. On the other hand, no apparent differences were found between lean and obese mice and gender factor also appeared to have negligible influence in the context of chronic hypoxia-induced PH. As a conclusion, obesity is found to be important factor associated with altered inflammation. In addition, significant differences between genders existed in the MCT model with regard to the severity of this life-threatening pulmonary vascular disease. However, future studies are needed to substantiate these findings and to reveal the underlying mechanisms.
Verknüpfung zu Publikationen oder weiteren Datensätzen
