Abstract
The understanding of the mechanisms underlying certain human diseases usually requires
an animal model which can be manipulated in a way that will allow dissection of the
pathophysiologic events which lead to the disease. High altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)
occurs in some healthy individuals who ascend from low to high altitude. The disease
is characterized by a high protein leak into the lungs and is associated with accentuated
pulmonary hypertension. Attempts to find an animal model for HAPE have been made in
a number of animal species, including rats, rabbits, sheep, dogs and ferrets. None
has been consistently successful. Utilizing the physiologic characteristic of an accentuated
hypoxic pulmonary vascular response, we studied both pigs and rats during the stresses
of hypoxia and exercise (rats) and examined the lungs for the cellular, protein, and
morphologic changes. Protein and cell contents in the lung lavage of the hypoxic animals
were slightly higher than the controls while the presence of von Wille-brand factor
in the hypoxic animals suggests early epithelial damage. This presentation will review
previous attempts to find an animal model of HAPE and will discuss the preliminary
results of our studies with their suggestive but not confirmatory results.
Key words
High altitude - hypoxia - pulmonary edema - pulmonary hypertension - rats - pigs -
animal model - von Willebrand's Factor