Beneficial Effects of Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Therapy on Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Animal Models

Takashi Nakata; Tomohiko Shindo; Kenta Ito; Kumiko Eguchi; Yuto Monma; Sadamitsu Ichijo; Rie Ryoke; Wakako Satoh; Kazunori Kumasaka; Haruka Sato; Ryo Kurosawa; Kimio Satoh; Ryuta Kawashima; Masahito Miura; Hiroshi Kanai; Satoshi Yasuda; Hiroaki Shimokawa

doi:10.1016/j.jacbts.2022.08.010

Beneficial Effects of Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Therapy on Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Animal Models

JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2022 Oct 12;8(3):283-297. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2022.08.010. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Takashi Nakata¹, Tomohiko Shindo¹, Kenta Ito¹, Kumiko Eguchi¹, Yuto Monma¹, Sadamitsu Ichijo¹, Rie Ryoke², Wakako Satoh³, Kazunori Kumasaka³, Haruka Sato³, Ryo Kurosawa¹, Kimio Satoh¹, Ryuta Kawashima², Masahito Miura³, Hiroshi Kanai^{4

5}, Satoshi Yasuda¹, Hiroaki Shimokawa^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
² Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
³ Department of Clinical Physiology, Health Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
⁴ Department of Electronic Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
⁵ Division of Biomedical Measurements and Diagnostics, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
⁶ International University of Health and Welfare, Narita, Japan.

Abstract

Right ventricular failure (RVF) is a leading cause of death in patients with pulmonary hypertension; however, effective treatment remains to be developed. We have developed low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy for cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we demonstrated that the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in RVF patients was downregulated and that eNOS expression and its downstream pathway were ameliorated through eNOS activation in 2 animal models of RVF. These results indicate that eNOS is an important therapeutic target of RVF, for which low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy is a promising therapy for patients with RVF.

Keywords: LIPUS; endothelial NO synthase; noninvasive therapy; pulmonary hypertension; right ventricular dysfunction.