P431

         J Appl Physiol 1981 Sep;51(3):755-61

        Pulmonary hypertension induced by repeated pulmonary inflammation in the

        rat.

        Herget J, Palecek F, Preclik P, Cermakova M, Vizek M, Petrovicka M.

        The effect of repeated lung inflammation on the pulmonary vascular bed

        was studied in rats. Nonbacterial lung inflammation was induced by

        repeated carrageenan instillations into the lungs. Three days after the

        single carrageenan injection, the mean pulmonary arterial blood pressure

        was only slightly raised [16.3  0.6 (mean  SE) Torr in controls

        and 19.5  0.5 Torr in rats with lung inflammation, P less than

        0.001]. A substantial pulmonary hypertension was found in rats 3 days

        after the sixth lung inflammation (24.6  1 Torr). In this group,

        arterial hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and right-heart hypertrophy were found.

        In the 14th day of recovery after the last injection of carrageenan, the

        mean pulmonary artery blood pressure decreased (18.5  0.9 Torr) but

        remained higher than in the control group. There was no difference in

        cardiac output measured by dye-dilution technique between the

        experimental and control groups. After repeated inflammation, the media

        of distal pulmonary vessels thickened and the number of pulmonary

        arterioles with distinct media increased.