title: Aerobic exercise-related attenuation of arterial pulmonary hypertension: A right arrow targets the disease?
abstract: Characterized by progressive elevation of mean pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an important health problem that contributes to right heart failure. Pulmonary arterial remodeling and constriction are two prominent features of PAH. It is a traditional view that increasing pulmonary blood flow and pressure, aerobic exercise does more harm than good to the pulmonary vasculature in PAH. However, recent studies have documented a potential benefit of low-intensity aerobic exercise for PAH patients. Here the current mini-review outlines the evidence and challenges for this additional tool in our armamentarium to combat this ominous disease.
authors.affiliation: The Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Atherosclerosis Research, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States; Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosalinda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madonna
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy; Institute of Cardiology, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Caterina
authors.affiliation: The Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Atherosclerosis Research, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States. Electronic address: Yong-Jian.geng@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Yong-Jian
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Geng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Arteriogenesis; Exercise training; Hydrogen peroxide; Pulmonary arterial hypertension; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vasodilation