(A) By invasive right heart catheterization and measurement of right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), while hypoxic KO-KO pairs were protected from PH as compared with WT-WT pairs, the KO partners in KO-WT pairs developed significantly higher RVSP versus KO-KO pairs (N=7,9,6,8 mice). (B) Right ventricular mass/body weight ratio was increased in the KO partners of KO-WT pairs as compared with KO-KO pairs (N=12,8,7,9 mice). (C)
In situ staining of α-SMA (green) demonstrated increased pulmonary arteriolar remodeling and muscularization in the KO partners of KO-WT pairs versus KO-KO pairs and comparable to that seen in WT partners and WT-WT pairs (N=6 mice/group, average of 10–12 vessels/mice. Scale bar denotes 50 μm.). (Data are presented as mean ± SEM. In x-axes of (A,B,C), bold font denotes parabionts being studied, whereas regular font denotes partner parabionts. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni testing was performed.)