Comparison of muscular pulmonary arteries in low and high altitude hamsters and rats

Measurements were made of the ratio of medial area to total arterial area in the muscular pulmonary arteries of a fossorial species, the hamster, and a non-fossorial control, the rat. It was found that the medial area was less in hamsters than in rats. In addition, chronic hypoxic exposure resulted in further medial thickening in rats, while the hamster was unaffected. The hamster has previously been shown to have a blunted hypoxic pulmonary pressor response, and the present data indicate that this relative unresponsiveness is associated with less pulmonary vascular smooth muscle. In addition, the insensitivity to hypoxia of the pulmonary vasculature and a lack of vascular luminal narrowing may tend to minimize increases in pulmonary vascular resistance during chronic hypoxia in the hamster, and thus be beneficial adaptations for a burrowing species.