PULMONARY-HYPERTENSION AND RIGHT HEART HYPERTROPHY IN AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY

In the past, the right heart has not received the same attentation as the left heart, both experimentally and clinically. It was only recently that the function of the right heart has been appreciated in experimental studies. These have become possible by adaptation of methods previously elaborated for the left heart and by miniaturization of cathetertip-manometers so that they can now be used for the measurement of right heart function in small laboratory animals such as the rat. From these investigations which are reviewed briefly it appears that the right ventricle plays an important role to maintain circulation in a variety of pathophysiological conditions. Several experimental models for acute pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular hypertrophy are presented. In addition, the effects of some pharmacological interventions such as calcium antagonists and ACE inhibitors are reported.