Neonatal dexamethasone treatment increases the risk for pulmonary hypertension in adult rats

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology Vol. 278; no. 4; pp. 822 - L829
• Main Authors: le Cras, Timothy D, Markham, Neil E, Morris, Kenneth G, Ahrens, Charles R, McMurtry, Ivan F, Abman, Steven H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.2000
• Subjects: Angiography; Animals; Animals, Newborn - physiology; Blood Pressure; Body Weight - drug effects; Dexamethasone - pharmacology; Glucocorticoids - pharmacology; Heart Septum - pathology; Hypertension, Pulmonary - etiology; Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular - pathology; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Lung - pathology; Myocardium - pathology; Organ Size - drug effects; Pulmonary Alveoli - pathology; Pulmonary Artery - diagnostic imaging; Pulmonary Artery - pathology; Pulmonary Artery - physiopathology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Risk Factors
• ISSN: 1040-0605; 1522-1504
• DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.2000.278.4.L822

1  Pediatric Heart Lung Center, Department of Pediatrics, 2  Cardiovascular Pulmonary Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, and 3  Department of Radiological Sciences, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80262 Dexamethasone (Dex) treatment during a critical period of lung development causes lung hypoplasia in infant rats. However, the effects of Dex on the pulmonary circulation are unknown. To determine whether Dex increases the risk for development of pulmonary hypertension, we treated newborn Sprague-Dawley rats with Dex (0.25 µg/day, days 3 - 13 ). Litters were divided equally between Dex-treated and vehicle control (ethanol) rats. Rats were raised in either room air until 10 wk of age (normoxic groups) or room air until 7 wk of age and then in a hypoxia chamber (inspired O 2 fraction = 0.10; hypoxic groups) for 3 wk to induce pulmonary hypertension. Compared with vehicle control rats, Dex treatment of neonatal rats reduced alveolarization (by 42%; P  < 0.05) and barium-filled pulmonary artery counts (by 37%; P  < 0.05) in 10-wk-old adults. Pulmonary arterial pressure and the ratio of right ventricle to left ventricle plus septum weights (RV/LV+S) were higher in 10-wk-old Dex-treated normoxic rats compared with those in normoxic control rats (by 16 and 16% respectively; P  < 0.05). Small pulmonary arteries of adult normoxic Dex-treated rats showed increased vessel wall thickness compared with that in control rats (by 15%; P  <   0.05). After 3 wk of hypoxia, RV/LV+S values were 36% higher in rats treated with Dex in the neonatal period compared with those in hypoxic control rats ( P  < 0.05). RV/LV+S was 42% higher in hypoxic control rats compared with those in normoxic control rats ( P  < 0.05). We conclude that Dex treatment of neonatal rats caused sustained lung hypoplasia and increased pulmonary arterial pressures and augmented the severity of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in adult rats. lung development; glucocorticoids; alveolarization; congenital diaphragmatic hernia; bronchopulmonary dysplasia; hypoxia