l-Arginine attenuates acute pulmonary embolism-induced oxidative stress and pulmonary hypertension

l-Arginine is substrate for nitric oxide (NO) synthesis and produces pulmonary vasodilatory effects in patients with pulmonary hypertension and in hypoxic animals. We hypothesized that l-arginine would attenuate the increase in oxidative stress and the pulmonary hypertension observed during acute pulmonary embolism (APE). Using an isolated lung perfusion rat model of APE, we examined whether l-arginine (0, 0.1, 0.5, 3, and 10 mmol/L) attenuates the pulmonary hypertension induced by the injection of 6.6 mg/kg of 300 μm Sephadex microspheres into the pulmonary artery. Thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBA-RS) and nitrite/nitrate (NO x ) concentrations were measured in lung perfusate to assess oxidative stress and NO production. l-Arginine (0.5, 3, and 10 mmol/L) attenuated (all P < 0.05) APE-induced pulmonary hypertension by about 50%. The protective effect of l-arginine was completely reversed by inhibition of NO synthesis with l-NAME (4 mmol/L). In addition, l-arginine (0.5–10 mmol/L) blunted the increase in TBA-RS observed after APE. NO x tended to increase only when l-arginine (10 mmol/L) was added to the lung perfusate of non-embolized lungs. Taken together, these findings suggest that l-arginine attenuates APE-induced pulmonary hypertension through antioxidant mechanisms involving increased NO synthesis.