Abstract 533: Crucial Role of Rho-Kinase in Pressure Overload--Induced Right Ventricular Hypertrophy and Dysfunction in Mice: A Possible Novel Therapeutic Target of Right Ventricular Failure

Rationale: Right ventricular (RV) failure is the leading cause of death in various cardiopulmonary diseases, including pulmonary hypertension. It is generally considered that the RV is vulnerable to pressure-overload as compared with the left ventricle (LV). However, as compared with LV failure, the molecular mechanisms of RV failure are poorly understood. Objective: We aimed to identify molecular therapeutic targets for RV failure in a mouse model of pressure-overload. Methods and Results: To induce pressure-overload to respective ventricles, we performed pulmonary artery constriction (PAC) or transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in mice. We first performed microarray analysis and found that the molecules related to RhoA/Rho-kinase and integrin pathways were significantly up-regulated in the RV with PAC compared with the LV with TAC. Then, we examined the responses of both ventricles to chronic pressure-overload in vivo. We demonstrated that compared with TAC, PAC caused greater extents of mortality, Rho...