Increased generation of reactive oxygen species in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells from monocrotaline-treated rats

Rationale: Chronic alveolar hypoxia induces pulmonary hypertension (PH), concomitant with pulmonary vascular remodeling. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are thought to play a major role in this process. Our recent findings suggest that ROS production by the NADPH-oxidase (NOX) subunits play an important role in this remodeling process. Objectives: We investigated whether similar mechanisms are active for non-hypoxia induced PH, namely monocrotaline (MCT) induced PH in rats. The aim was to examine ROS production and their possible source. Further we adressed the expression of NOX subunits, antioxidative enzymes SOD…