Figure 5.

RV contractility is maintained despite the occurrence of apoptosis and fibrosis. Rats were subjected to SU5416 injection, hypoxia for 3 weeks, and maintained for 2, 5, or 14 weeks in normoxia (5-, 8-, and 17-week time points). Rats were ventilated and the chest opened. A Miller catheter was inserted into the RV apex, and (A) dP/dt_max and (B) dP/dt_min values were measured as an indication of the contractile performance. The symbol (*) indicates that the values are significantly different from each other at P < 0.05 as determined by one-way ANOVA.