Effect of a surgical aortocaval fistula on monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
Increased pulmonary blood flow is believed to contribute to the development of pulmonary hypertension. We investigated the effect of overcirculation via an aortocaval fistula, on the development of monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats. Monocrotaline was administered 1 wk after the creation of an aortocaval fistula.


METHODS
Randomized, controlled study.


METHODS
Research laboratory of an academic institution.


METHODS
Male Sprague-Dawley rats.


METHODS
Overcirculation was induced by pneumonectomy and by surgical creation of aortocaval fistula. Pulmonary artery hypertension was induced by administration of monocrotaline.


RESULTS
Aortic blood flow, Pao(2), and pulmonary arterial pressure were measured 4 wks later. A blinded investigator quantified pulmonary arterial neointimal formation in small pulmonary arteries. Compared with animals that received monocrotaline and/or underwent pneumonectomy but did not undergo aortocaval fistula, the presence of a surgical aortocaval fistula was associated with increased aortic blood flow (p <.001), increased Pao(2) (p <.001), and lower mean pulmonary arterial pressure (p <.001). In addition, rats with aortocaval fistula had less pulmonary arterial neointimal formation than matched animals without an aortocaval fistula (p =.034).


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of a surgical aortocaval fistula attenuates, rather than worsens, the development of monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats.
Nishimura
Toshihiko
T
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, 300 Pasteur Avenue, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Faul
John L
JL
Berry
Gerald J
GJ
Kao
Peter N
PN
Pearl
Ronald G
RG
D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D001166:Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002302:Cardiac Output; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017380:Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular / Q000209:etiology; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D016686:Monocrotaline; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000601:surgery*
D016686:Monocrotaline