Pulmonary hypertension and vascular oxidative damage in cigarette smoke exposed eNOS−/− mice and human smokers

CONTEXT: Cigarette smoke is known to be associated with pulmonary hypertension in humans and in animal models. Although the etiology of pulmonary hypertension in smokers is not understood, recent work has suggested a role for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in inducing oxidative stress. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: To further evaluate this question, we assessed eNOS-/- mice exposed to air or cigarette smoke for the presence of pulmonary …