Cardiology Letters 2020, 29(3):183-194

Animal models of pulmonary hypertension

Trubačová S¹, Kováčová D¹, Klimas J², Paulis Ľ^{1, 3}

¹ Ústav patologickej fyziológie, Lekárska fakulta Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave

² Katedry farmakológie a toxikológie, Farmaceutická fakulta Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave

³ Ústav normálnej a patologickej fyziológie, Centrum experimentálnej medicíny SAV, Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Pulmonary hypertension is a disease characterized by an increase in mean arterial pressure in the pulmonary artery and a primary or secondary pulmonary arterial remodeling, particularly narrowing and obstruction of small pulmonary arteries. With the progressive increase in afterload, right ventricular hypertrophy, subsequent dilatation and right heart failure develop. The etiological and pathophysiological heterogeneity of this disease, as well as unsatisfactory treatment options, call for adequate animal models of each type of pulmonary hypertension. A relatively wide range of animal models is available, but they do not always completely simulate the development of clinical disease and its aspects. For example, pulmonary hypertension induced in rodents is not manifested by a marked change in hemodynamic parameters, hypertrophy or right ventricular failure. Several classical models do not lead to the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension characterized by plexogenic arteriopathy, and the success rate of therapeutic intervention in these models does not always reflect their clinical efficacy. Nevertheless, the range of models available may contribute to the study of the initial stages of pulmonary hypertension, which are more difficult to follow in clinical situation due to late diagnosis. The development of new and refining of existing models is a useful tool for elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms of pulmonary hypertension, as well as a platform for preclinical testing of innovative therapeutic interventions. Therefore, our manuscript provides an overview of the evolution of the most commonly used animal models and their contribution to the field of pulmonary hypertension study.

Keywords: pulmonary hypertension; animal model; right ventricle failure; remodeling of pulmonary arteries

Published: March 1, 2020  Show citation