Evagination of smooth muscle cells in the hypoxic pulmonary trunk.

Evagination of smooth muscle cells in the hypoxic pulmonary trunk.

Six female Wistar albino rats were exposed to the hypoxia of a simulated altitude of 5500 m, three for a period of one week and three for a month. They developed ultrastructural changes in the pulmonary trunk consisting of evaginations of muscle cells of its media through gaps in the internal elastic lamina to press into the underlying endothelial cells. Such evaginations were usually devoid of...

Hypoxic Pulmonary Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation

Characterization of pulmonary smooth muscle cell growth activity from hypoxic pulmonary endothelial cells.

Puerarin Induces Mitochondria-Dependent Apoptosis in Hypoxic Human Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells

BACKGROUND Pulmonary vascular medial hypertrophy in hypoxic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is caused in part by decreased apoptosis in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Puerarin, an isoflavone purified from the Chinese medicinal herb kudzu, ameliorates chronic hypoxic PAH in animal models. Here we investigated the effects of puerarin on apoptosis of hypoxic human PASMCs (HPA...

Hypoxic induction of cox-2 regulates proliferation of human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells.

Chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension results partly from proliferation of smooth muscle cells in small peripheral pulmonary arteries. Therefore, we examined the effect of hypoxia on growth of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) from human distal pulmonary arteries. Initial studies identified that serum-induced proliferation of explant-derived PASMCs was inhibited under hypox...