PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Mary-Clare Cathcart AU - Rasa Tamosiuniene AU - Gang Chen AU - Tomas G. Neilan AU - Aidan Bradford AU - Kenneth J. O'Byrne AU - Desmond J. Fitzgerald AU - Graham P. Pidgeon TI - Cyclooxygenase-2-Linked Attenuation of Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension and Intravascular Thrombosis AID - 10.1124/jpet.107.134221 DP - 2008 Jul 01 TA - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics PG - 51--58 VI - 326 IP - 1 4099 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/326/1/51.short 4100 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/326/1/51.full SO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther2008 Jul 01; 326 AB - Exogenous prostacyclin is effective in reducing pulmonary vascular resistance in some forms of human pulmonary hypertension (PH). To explore whether endogenous prostaglandins played a similar role in pulmonary hypertension, we examined the effect of deleting cyclooxygenase (COX)-gene isoforms in a chronic hypoxia model of PH. Pulmonary hypertension, examined by direct measurement of right ventricular end systolic pressure (RVESP), right ventricular hypertrophy (n = 8), and hematocrit (n = 3), was induced by 3 weeks of hypobaric-hypoxia in wild-type and COX-knockout (KO) mice. RVESP was increased in wild-type hypoxic mice compared with normoxic controls (24.4 ± 1.4 versus 13.8 ± 1.9 mm Hg; n = 8; p < 0.05). COX-2 KO mice showed a greater increase in RVESP following hypoxia (36.8 ± 2.7 mm Hg; p < 0.05). Urinary thromboxane (TX)B2 excretion increased following hypoxia (44.6 ± 11.1 versus 14.7 ± 1.8 ng/ml; n = 6; p < 0.05), an effect that was exacerbated by COX-2 gene disruption (54.5 ± 10.8 ng/ml; n = 6). In contrast, the increase in 6-keto-prostacyclin1α excretion following hypoxia was reduced by COX-2 gene disruption (29 ± 3 versus 52 ± 4.6 ng/ml; p < 0.01). Tail cut bleed times were lower following hypoxia, and there was evidence of intravascular thrombosis in lung vessels that was exacerbated by disruption of COX-2 and reduced by deletion of COX-1. The TXA2/endoperoxide receptor antagonist ifetroban (50 mg/kg/day) offset the effect of deleting the COX-2 gene, attenuating the hypoxia-induced rise in RVESP and intravascular thrombosis. COX-2 gene deletion exacerbates pulmonary hypertension, enhances sensitivity to TXA2, and induces intravascular thrombosis in response to hypoxia. The data provide evidence that endogenous prostaglandins modulate the pulmonary response to hypoxia. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics