The regulatory effect of hydrogen sulfide on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension

Objective To explore the regulatory effect of hydrogen sulfide on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) in rats.Methods Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group (n=8), hypoxic group (n=5) and hypoxic+NaHS group (n=7). Hypoxia management was performed by putting rats into normothermic hypoxia chamber with oxygen concentration of (10±0.5)% for 6 hours everyday. NaHS (14 μmol/kg) was injected intraperitoneally into rats of hypoxic+NaHS group before hypoxia exposure. Three weeks later, right ventricular catheterization was performed to measure the pulmonary artery pressure. The wet weight ratio of right ventricle(RV) vs left ventricle(LV)+septum(SP), RV/(LV+SP) was also measured.Results The rats in hypoxia group developed obvious pulmonary hypertension after three weeks of hypoxia with right ventricle hypertrophy. Compared with rats in hypoxia group, the mPAP and RV/(LV+SP) all decreased significantly (16.3±2.8 mmHg vs 23.7±2.2 mmHg,0.31± 0.02 vs 0.41±0.03,P0.01 respectively).Conclusion Hydrogen sulfide could inhibit the elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure during the rat′s HPH.