Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is responsible for premature death caused by progressive and severe heart failure. A simple, feasible, and reproducible animal model of PH is essential for the investigation of the pathogenesis and treatment of this condition. Previous studies have demonstrated that the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) inhibitor SU5416 combined with hypoxia could establish an animal model of PH. Here, we investigated whether SU5416 itself could induce PH in rats. The effects of SU5416 treatment followed by 5 weeks of normoxia were examined. Hemodynamic measurements and histological assessments of the pulmonary vasculature and the heart were conducted to evaluate the physiological and pathophysiological characteristics of PH. Compared with the control rats, the SU5416-treated rats showed significantly increased right ventricle systolic pressure, right ventricle mass, total pulmonary vascular resistance, and total pulmonary vascular resistance index, while the cardiac output and cardiac index were substantially decreased. Moreover, the degree of occlusion and the muscularization levels of the distal small pulmonary vessels and the medial wall thickness of larger vessels (OD > 50 μm) simultaneously increased. SU5416 inhibited pulmonary vascular endothelial cell apoptosis in rats, as shown by immunostaining of cleaved caspase-3. Furthermore, changes in the right ventricle, myocardial hypertrophy, myocardial edema, myocardial necrosis, striated muscle cell atrophy, vessel muscularization, neointimal occlusion, and increased collagen deposition were observed in the SU5416 group compared with the control group. Thus, treatment with SU5416 alone plus 5 weeks of normoxia could be sufficient to induce PH in rats, which may provide a good and convenient model for future investigation of PH.
Keywords: Animal model; Normoxia; Pulmonary arterial hypertension; SU5416; Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor.