Tsantan Sumtang Alleviates Chronic Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension by Inhibiting Proliferation of Pulmonary Vascular Cells

Figure 4

Tsantan Sumtang alleviated chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling in 4 weeks (n=5). Ctr: control group; Hyp: untreated hypoxia group (rats exposed to hypoxia in hypobaric chamber, equal to the parameter in altitude 4500 m), and Hyp+SW-treated groups (rats exposed to hypoxia in hypobaric chamber and received increasing doses of Tsantan Sumtang treatment, 1.0 g/kg, 1.25 g/kg, and 1.5 g/kg). (a) HE staining of the small pulmonary arterioles (diameters below100 μm, ×100). Triangle indicated that pulmonary small vessels thickened in Hyp rats and were lessened notably by Tsantan Sumtang treatment. (b) The ratio of the vascular wall thickness to the vascular diameter (WT%) of pulmonary arterioles. WT% was increased obviously in Hyp group and alleviated markedly by Tsantan Sumtang treatment (^ΔP< 0.05 compared to untreated hypoxic rats). (c) Ultrastructure of pulmonary arterioles by transmission electron microscope (TEM, ×20000) which indicated smooth muscle muscularization of the arterial vascular wall, especially in the tunica media induced by chronic hypoxia. Tsantan Sumtang treatment groups showed obvious alleviation of tunica media thickening (triangle indicated the changes of tunica media in pulmonary arterial vascular wall).

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