Problems of High Altitude Medicine and Biology

The major characteristic pathological findings of pulmonary vascular remodelling are increased wall thickening of pulmonary vessels and mus- larization of small arteries. In laboratory animals, decreased ambient oxygen concentrations cause similar pathological findings, including pulmonary smooth muscle hypertrophy and proliferation [22,23]. It has been suggested that proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) is a key component of pulmonary vascular remodelling, and several