cardiovascular system
• homozygotes show a significant increase in RV/body weight ratio relative to age- and gender-matched wild-type mice
• notably, the LV/RV weight ratio is dramatically reduced and similar to that observed in pulmonary hypertension animal models
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• at 5 months, homozygotes display a thin ventricular septum
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• homozygotes show a significant increase in LV/body weight ratio relative to age- and gender-matched wild-type mice
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• at 5 months, homozygotes display a thin LV posterior wall
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• homozygotes exhibit increased left ventricular end-diastolic dimensions and end-systolic dimensions
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• homozygotes display dilated cardiomyopathy in the left ventricular chamber
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• homozygotes show a significant reduction in both fractional shortening percentage and mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening, indicating depressed systolic cardiac function
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• baseline right ventricle contractility and diastolic function are significantly increased
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• homozygotes exhibit a pulmonary artery pressure that is 90% higher than that of wild-type mice
• at baseline, RV pressure is comparable to pulmonary artery pressure either in wild-type or mutant mice, indicating absence of pulmonary valvular defects
• chronic pulmonary hypertension does not appear to be secondary to LV dysfunction but results in marked RV hypertrophy
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growth/size/body
• homozygotes show a significant increase in RV/body weight ratio relative to age- and gender-matched wild-type mice
• notably, the LV/RV weight ratio is dramatically reduced and similar to that observed in pulmonary hypertension animal models
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homeostasis/metabolism
• homozygotes exhibit a 5-fold increase in plasma nitric oxide concentration, probably as a result of increased endothelial NOS activity
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cellular
• homozygotes show absence of caveolae invaginations in the microvascular endothelium, smooth muscle cells, lung type I epithelium, and fibroblasts
• in contrast, homozygotes show normal distribution of caveolae in the cardiac muscle cell plasma membrane
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muscle
• homozygotes show a significant increase in RV/body weight ratio relative to age- and gender-matched wild-type mice
• notably, the LV/RV weight ratio is dramatically reduced and similar to that observed in pulmonary hypertension animal models
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• homozygotes display dilated cardiomyopathy in the left ventricular chamber
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• homozygotes show a significant reduction in both fractional shortening percentage and mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening, indicating depressed systolic cardiac function
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• baseline right ventricle contractility and diastolic function are significantly increased
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