Chronic hypoxia- and monocrotaline-induced elevation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha levels and pulmonary hypertension.

A close relationship exists between hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha and pulmonary hypertension. The present study was carried out to explore if there are temporal alterations in HIF-1alpha levels during prolonged hypoxia and after monocrotaline (MCT) treatment. First, young Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: control, hypoxia-1, hypoxia-2, hypoxia-3 and hypoxia-4.