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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Increasing Pulmonary Artery Pulsatile Flow Improves Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension in Piglets
Published on: May 11, 2015
[Preventive effects of urapidil on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in rats]
Xiu-qiong Xia1, De-yun Cheng, Jian Guan
1Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Objective:
To investigate the preventive effect of urapidil, an alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonist, on hypoxic pulmonary vascular remodeling.
Methods:
Twenty-one male Sprague-Drawley rats were randomly allocated into three groups: control group, hypoxic group and hypoxic plus urapidil group. The animal model of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension was established by exposing the rats to normobaric hypoxic condition for three weeks, and the rats of hypoxic plus urapidil group were treated with urapidil 10 mg/kg before and after hypoxic processing. The right ventricle (RV) and left ventricle plus septum (LV + S) of rat were weighed respectively, and the RV/(LV + S) was calculated. The wall thickness(WT) and wall area(WA) of pulmonary arterioles wall were measured by a computerized image analyzer, and the index of wall thickness of rats pulmonary arterioles-the percentages of the wall thickness in the external diameter (WT%) and the wall area in the total vascular area (WA%) were calculated.
Results:
In the hypoxic group, RV/(LV + S), WT% and WA% were (33.06 +/- 1.74)%, (25.15 +/- 1.47)% and (73.88 +/- 2.93)% respectively, while in the control group, they were (23.21 +/- 2.31)%, (13.55 +/- 1.60)% and (48.23 +/- 4.43)%, the difference between the two groups was significant (P < 0.01). In the hypoxic plus urapidil group, they were (26.63 +/- 1.44)%, (14.57 +/- 2.27)% and (52.68 +/- 3.98)%, being remarkably decreased as compared with those in the hypoxic group (P < 0.01).
Conclusion:
Urapidil can prevent hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.
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