Carbon monoxide reverses established pulmonary hypertension

Reduction of pulmonary capillary blood volume in patients with severe unexplained pulmonary hypertension.

BACKGROUND Unexplained or primary pulmonary hypertension results in an obliteration and obstruction of resistance pulmonary arteries. In these patients gas exchange is impaired and the measurement of gas transfer for carbon monoxide is usually reduced. This has been thought to represent a reduction in pulmonary alveolar capillary blood volume (Vc). A single breath test, measuring simultaneously...

Predicting survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension: time to move forward.

I n the early 1980s, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established a prospective, multicenter registry to characterise the long-term outcomes of consecutive patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) [1], which included idiopathic, heritable and anorexigens-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) [2]. Another important objective of this registry was to determine variables...

Prevention of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension by enhancement of endogenous heme oxygenase-1 in the rat.

We investigated the role of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in the development of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. HO catalyzes the breakdown of heme to the antioxidant bilirubin and the vasodilator carbon monoxide. Hypoxia is a potent but transient inducer of HO-1 in vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and in the lung in vivo. By using agonists of HO-1, we sustained a high expression of HO-1 in...

Title: Continuous inhalation of carbon monoxide induces right ventricle ischemia and dysfunction in rat with hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Authors:

Soluble guanylate cyclase activator reverses acute pulmonary hypertension and augments the pulmonary vasodilator response to inhaled nitric oxide in awake lambs.

BACKGROUND Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) is a potent and selective pulmonary vasodilator, which induces cGMP synthesis by activating soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) in ventilated lung regions. Carbon monoxide (CO) has also been proposed to influence smooth muscle tone via activation of sGC. We examined whether direct stimulation of sGC by BAY 41-2272 would produce pulmonary vasodilation and augment...