Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious disease of multiple etiologies mediated by hypoxia, immune stimuli, and elevated pulmonary pressure that leads to vascular thickening and eventual right heart failure. In a chronic hypoxia model of PH, we previously reported the induction of a novel pleiotropic cytokine, hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor (HIMF), that exhibits mitogenic, vasculogenic, cont...

We assessed the effects of dexamethasone on hypoxia-induced dysfunction of the pulmonary endothelium using organ-cultured rabbit intrapulmonary arteries. Three μM dexamethasone inhibited the 7 day-hypoxia (5% oxygen)-induced impairments of endothelial dependent relaxation, cGMP accumulation, and increase in intracellular Ca level under substance P-stimulated conditions. Treatment with dexametha...

Chronic hypoxia and anoxia have strong impacts on coastal ecosystems worldwide. In shallow ecosystems, such situations are essentially driven by high benthic oxygen (O2) demand resulting from organic matter mineralization in surface sediment amplified a low mixing of the water column. However, O2 may greatly vary according to availability, biogeochemical properties, bioturbation macrobenthic fa...

Progress in the study of pregnancy complicated by chronic hypoxia in large mammals has been held back by the inability to measure long-term significant reductions in fetal oxygenation at values similar to those measured in human pregnancy complicated by fetal growth restriction. Here, we introduce a technique for physiological research able to maintain chronically instrumented maternal and feta...

Chronic hypoxia reduces aerobic capacity (mitochondrial content) in limb skeletal muscles, and one of the causes seems to be decreased physical activity. Diaphragm and other respiratory muscles, however, may have a different pattern of adaptation as hypoxia increases the work of breathing. Thus, we hypothesized that chronic hypoxia would not reduce mitochondrial content in mouse diaphragm. Adul...

Hypoxia modulates proliferation and differentiation of cultured embryonic and adult stem cells, an effect that includes β-catenin, a key component of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. Here we studied the effect of mild hypoxia on the activity of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in the hippocampus of adult mice in vivo. The hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α (HIF-1α) was analyzed as...

Many clinical observations suggest common mediators in the progression of kidney disease leading to eventual kidney failure. Among them, accumulating evidence emphasizes the role of chronic hypoxia in the tubulointerstitium in this role. When advanced, tubulointerstitial damage is associated with the loss of peritubular capillaries, impairing blood delivery. Associated interstitial fibrosis fur...

We assessed the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on hypoxia-induced dysfunction of the pulmonary endothelium using organ-cultured rabbit intrapulmonary arteries; 3-microM DEX inhibited the 7-day hypoxia (5% oxygen)-induced impairments of endothelial-dependent relaxation, cGMP accumulation, and increase in intracellular Ca(2+) level under substance P-stimulated conditions. Treatment with DEX over ...

OBJECTIVE Discuss the effects of altitude exposure on neuropsychological functions. METHOD We have conducted a literature review using as source indexed articles at Pubmed in the period from 1921 to 2008, using the following key words: 'cognition and hypoxia', 'hypoxia and neuropsychology', 'acute hypoxia', 'chronic hypoxia', and 'acclimatization and hypoxia', as well as specific books on the...

Devising therapies that might prevent the onset or progression of pulmonary hypertension in newborns has received little attention. Our major objective was to determine whether sildenafil, a selective phosphodiesterase inhibitor, prevents the development of an early stage of chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in newborn pigs. Another objective was to determine whether sildenafil cau...