Increased vascular endothelial growth factor production in the lungs of rats with hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
1998-06-25Keywords
AnimalsAnoxia
Blotting, Northern
Capillary Permeability
Endothelial Growth Factors
Hypertension, Pulmonary
Immunohistochemistry
In Situ Hybridization
Lung
Lymphokines
Male
Pulmonary Alveoli
RNA, Messenger
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
Receptors, Growth Factor
Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Time Factors
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent mitogenic and permeability factor targeting predominantly endothelial cells. At least two tyrosine kinase receptors, Flk-1 and Flt-1, mediate its action and are mostly expressed by endothelial cells. VEGF and VEGF receptor expression are upregulated by hypoxia in vivo and the role of VEGF in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis has been extensively studied in a variety of disease entities. Although VEGF and its receptors are abundantly expressed in the lung, their role in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension and the accompanying vascular remodeling are incompletely understood. We report in this in vivo study that hypoxia increases mRNA levels for both VEGF and Flk-1 in the rat lung. The kinetics of the hypoxic response differ between receptor and ligand: Flk-1 mRNA showed a biphasic response to hypoxia with a significant, but transient, rise in mRNA levels observed after 9-15 h of hypoxic exposure and the highest levels noted after 3 wk. In contrast, VEGF mRNA levels did not show a significant increase with acute hypoxia, but increased progressively after 1-3 wk of hypoxia. By in situ hybridization, VEGF mRNA was localized predominantly in alveolar epithelial cells with increased signal in the lungs of hypoxic animals compared with controls. Immunohistochemical staining with anti-VEGF antibodies localized VEGF peptide throughout the lung parenchyma and was increased in hypoxic compared with normoxic animals. Furthermore, hypoxic animals had significantly higher circulating VEGF concentrations compared with normoxic controls. Lung vascular permeability as measured by extravasation of Evans Blue dye was not significantly different between normoxic and hypoxic animals, although a tendency for increased permeability was seen in the hypoxic animals. These findings suggest a possible role for VEGF in the pulmonary response to hypoxia.Source
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 1998 Jun;18(6):768-76.Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/49417PubMed ID
9618381Notes
Medical student Victoria Arthur participated in this study as part of the Senior Scholars research program.Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedRelated items
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