2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of a new therapy using i-RNA method in a newly created pulmonary hypertension model in mice

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20591844
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Anesthesiology/Resuscitation studies
Research Institution	Jikei University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator	UEZONO Shoichi Jikei University School of Medicine, 医学部, 教授 (10291676)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Keywords	肺高血圧 / マウス / 血管リモデリング / 核内転写因子 / 核酸医薬
Research Abstract	Remodeling of pulmonary vasculature (neointimal formation) is a key pathophysiology of development of pulmonary hypertension. The primary purpose of this research is to establish severe form of pulmonary hypertension model in mice. We observed that three-week-long exposure to hypoxic (FiO2=17%) environment with monocrotaline injection caused severe pulmonary hypertension. Unfortunately, more than 50% of these pulmonary hypertensive mice were too sick to tolerate an experiment of measurement of pulmonary artery pressure, necessitating abandon of this experimental model. Using a large cohort of pregnant women with congenital heart disease, we revealed the presence of pulmonary hypertension is a risk factor for maternal and neonatal poor outcome of pregnancy.