Suppressed baroreflex peripheral arc overwhelms augmented neural arc and incapacitates baroreflex function in rats with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? The impact of pulmonary arterial hypertension on open-loop baroreflex function, which determines how powerfully and rapidly the baroreflex operates to regulate arterial pressure, remains poorly understood. What is the main finding and its importance? The gain of the baroreflex total arc, indicating the baroreflex pressure-stabilizing function, is markedly attenuated in rats with monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension. This is caused by a rightward shift of the baroreflex neural arc and a downward shift of the peripheral arc.

Proteinase-activated receptor 1 antagonism ameliorates experimental pulmonary hypertension.

Aims: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by progressive increases in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Thrombotic lesions are common pathological findings. The pulmonary artery has a unique property regarding the vasoconstrictive response to thrombin, which is mediated by proteinase-activated receptor 1 (PAR1).

The challenge of magnetic vagal nerve stimulation for myocardial infarction -preliminary clinical trial.

Numerous studies have shown in animal models that vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) strikingly reduces infarct size of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and prevents heart failure. However, the lack of techniques to noninvasively stimulate the vagal nerve hinders VNS from clinical applications. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is noninvasive and capable of stimulating central neurons in patients.

Haemodynamic unloading reverses occlusive vascular lesions in severe pulmonary hypertension.

Aims: An important pathogenic mechanism in the development of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension is hypothesized to be a cancer-like cellular proliferation independent of haemodynamics. However, because the vascular lesions are inseparably coupled with haemodynamic stress, the fate of the lesions is unknown when haemodynamic stress is eliminated.

Methods And Results: We applied left pulmonary artery banding to a rat model with advanced pulmonary hypertension to investigate the effects of decreased haemodynamic stress on occlusive vascular lesions.

Novel dual endothelin receptor antagonist macitentan reverses severe pulmonary arterial hypertension in rats.

The efficacy of endothelin (ET) receptor antagonist bosentan in patients with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains limited, partly because its higher doses for potential blockade of ET receptors have never been tested due to liver dysfunction. We hypothesized that rigorous blockade of ET receptors using the novel dual ET receptor antagonist macitentan would be effective in treating severe PAH without major side effects in a preclinical model appropriately representing the human disorder. In normal rats, 30 mg·kg·d of macitentan completely abolished big ET-1-induced increases in right ventricle (RV) systolic pressure.