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Endothelin-1 Molecular Ribonucleic Acid Expression in Pulmonary Hypertensive and Nonhypertensive Chickens

A. P. Gomez^*, M. J. Moreno^*, R. M. Baldrich and A. Hernández^*,1

^* Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y de Zootecnia, and Instituto de Genética, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá DC1, Colombia

¹ Corresponding author: ahernandezv{at}unal.edu.co

Four hundred 1-d-old Cobb broilers were distributed in 3 groups: group A comprised broilers maintained under natural hypobaric hypoxia (Bogotá, Colombia); group B comprised broilers under relative normoxia (Villavicencio, Colombia); and group C comprised broilers maintained at 460 m above sea level (Villavicencio, Colombia) from d 1 to 25 of age, and then moved to 2,638 m above sea level (Bogotá, Colombia). Broilers were designated as nonpulmonary hypertensive (NPHB) and pulmonary hypertensive (PHB), to estimate possible differences between them in the lung expression of endothelin 1 (ET-1) mRNA at 24 and 42 d of age. In group A, 12 NPHB and 12 PHB were used for determination of ET-1 mRNA expression at 42 d. In group B, nonPHB were found, and therefore, ET-1 mRNA expression was detected in 48 NPHB, 24 of them in each age group (24 and 42 d). In group C, only NPHB were encountered at 42 and 53 d, and ET-1 mRNA expression was determined at 42 d in 24 birds. The ET-1 mRNA levels of PHB of group A at 42 d were significantly higher than the correspondent ones in NPHB of groups A (P < 0.001) and C (P < 0.05) at the same age. No differences in ET-1 mRNA expression were encountered between NPHB of groups A and B at 42 d (P > 0.05). However, ET-1 mRNA expression was higher in group C than the correspondent one in NPHB of groups A and B at 42 d (P < 0.001). The present data suggest that ET-1 may play a major role in pulmonary hypertension pathophysiology. It is possible that chickens should be exposed to hypobaric hypoxia before d 24, as a requisite to develop pulmonary hypertension. These results might provide clues for future studies in pulmonary vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling.

Key Words: cardiac index • endothelin-1 • hypobaric hypoxia • normoxia • pulmonary hypertension