Inhibition of expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α mRNA by nitric oxide in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension rats

Abstract

In order to study the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) mRNA in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) rats, 30 healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normoxic control group, chronic hypoxic group and hypoxia plus L-argine (L-Arg) group. The animal model of HPH was developed. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) was measured by inserting a microcatheter into the pulmonary artery. The HIF-1α mRNA expression levels were detected by in situ hybridization (ISH) and semiquantitative RT-PCR. It was found that after 14 days hypoxia, the mPAP in normoxic control group (17.6±2.7 mmHg,l mmHg=0.133 kPa) was significantly lower than that in chronic hypoxic group (35.8 ±6.1 mmHg,t=0.2918,P<0.05) and mPAP in chronic hypoxic group was higher than that in hypoxia plus L-argine group (24.4±3.8 mmHg,t=0.2563,P<0.05). ISH showed that the expression of HIF-1α mRNA in the intraacinar pulmonary arteriolae (IAPA) in normoxic control group (0.1076±0.0205) was markedly weaker than that in chronic hypoxic group (0.3317±0.0683,t=3.125,P<0.05) and that in chronic hypoxic group was stronger than that in hypoxia plus L-argine group (0.1928±0.0381,t=2.844,P<0.05). RT-PCR showed that the content of HIF-1α mRNA in chronic hypoxic group (2.5395±0.6449) was 2.16 times and 1.75 times higher than that in normoxic control group (1.1781±0.3628) and hypoxia plus L-argine group (1.4511±0.3981), respectively. It is concluded that NO can reduce the mPAP by the inhibition of the expression of HIF-1α mRNA, which may be one of the mechanisms through which NO affects the pathogenesis of HPH.

Keywords

nitric oxide / hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha / hypoxic pulmonary hypertension

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