Metabolic Reprogramming of the Right Ventricle and Pulmonary Arteries in a Flow-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Rat Model

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complex devastating disease relevant to remarkable metabolic dysregulation. Although various research studies on PAH from a metabolic perspective have been emerging, pathogenesis of PAH varies in different categories. Research on metabolic reprogramming in flow-associated PAH remains insufficient. An untargeted metabolomic profiling platform was used to evaluate the metabolic profile of pulmonary arteries (PAs) as well as the right ventricle (RV) in a flow-associated PAH rat model in the present work. A total of 79 PAs and 128 RV metabolites were significantly altered in PAH rats, among which 39 metabolites were assessed as shared dysregulated metabolites in PAs and the RV. Pathway analysis elucidated that, in PAs of PAH rats, pathways of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis and linoleic acid metabolism were significantly altered, while in the RV, arginine biosynthesis and linoleic acid metabolism were altered dramatically. Further integrated analysis of shared dysregulated PA and RV metabolites demonstrated that the linoleic acid metabolism and the arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism were the key pathways involved in the pathogenesis of flow-associated PAH. Results obtained from the present work indicate that the PAH pathogenesis could be mediated by widespread metabolic reprogramming. In particular, the dysregulation of AA metabolism may considerably contribute to the development of high blood flow-associated PAH.