Salubrinal attenuates right ventricular hypertrophy and dysfunction in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension of rats

The phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha (p-eIF2α) is essential for cell survival during hypoxia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether salubrinal, an inhibitor of p-eIF2α dephosphorylation could attenuate pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy in rats exposed to hypobaric hypoxia. PAH of rats was induced by hypobaric hypoxia. Salubrinal supplemented was randomized in either a prevention or a reversal protocol. At the end of the follow-up point, we measured echocardiography, hemodynamics, hematoxylin-eosin and Masson's trichrome stainings. RNA-seq analysis is explored to identify changes in gene expression associated with hypobaric hypoxia with or without salubrinal. Compared with vehicle-treatment rats exposed to hypobaric hypoxia, salubrinal prevented and partly reversed the increase of the mean pulmonary artery pressure and RV hypertrophy. What's more, salubrinal reduced the percentage wall thickness (WT%) of pulmonary artery and RV collagen volume fraction (CVF) in both prevention and reversal protocols. We also found that salubrinal was capable of reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress. The result of RNA-seq analysis revealed that chronic hypoxia stimulated the differential expression of a series of genes involved in cell cycle regulation and ventricular hypertrophy and so on. Some of these genes could be ameliorated by salubrinal. These results indicate that salubrinal could prevent and reverse well-established RV remodeling, and restore the genes and pathways altered in the right ventricles of rats exposed to hypobaric hypoxia.