DNA microarray profiling identified a new role of growth hormone in vascular remodeling of rat ductus arteriosus

The ductus arteriosus (DA), a fetal arterial connection between the pulmonary artery and the aorta, has a character distinct from the adjacent arteries. We compared the transcriptional profiles of the DA and the aorta of Wistar rat fetuses on embryonic day 19 (preterm) and day 21 (near-term) using DNA microarray analyses. We found that 39 genes were expressed 2.5-fold greater in the DA than in the aorta. Growth hormone (GH) receptor (GHR) exhibited the most significant difference in expression. Then, we found that GH significantly promoted migration of DA smooth muscle cells (SMCs), thus enhancing the intimal cushion formation of the DA explants. GH also regulated the expression of cytoskeletal genes in DA SMCs, which may retain a synthetic phenotype in the smooth muscle-specific cytoskeletal genes. Thus, the present study revealed that GH-GHR signal played a role in the vascular remodeling of the DA.