P430

         Respiration 1979;38(4):204-12

        Pulmonary hypertension in rats with papain emphysema.

        Herget J, Paleček F, Čermáková M, Vízek M.

        Lung emphysema was produced in 80 rats by tracheal chronic constriction

        and repeated instillations of 0.1% papain solution intratracheally. 17

        animals survived 90 days of the experiment; a complete examination was

        performed on 14 experimental and 11 control animals. 9 rats of the

        experimental group had pulmonary hypertension, in 5 other rats the

        pulmonary arterial blood pressure was not different from that in the

        controls. The experimental animals with hypertension had arterial

        hypoxemia and increased weight of the right ventricle. All experimental

        rats (with and without pulmonary hypertension) had increased air spaces

        in the lung and thickened media of distal pulmonary vessels. After

        breathing 100% oxygen for 20 min, the pulmonary arterial blood pressure

        in animals with pulmonary hypertension decreased but did not reach the

        control level. The decrease of the mean pulmonary arterial blood

        pressure after oxygen breathing correlated well with the initial level

        of pulmonary hypertension and with the degree of hypoxemia during air

        breathing.