Our previous publication demonstrated that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g (PPARg) inhibits the pathogenesis of chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced pulmonary hypertension by targeting store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) in rat distal pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). In this study, we aim to determine the role of a membrane scaffolding protein, caveolin-1, during the suppressive process of PPARg on SOCE. Adult (6-8 weeks) male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were exposed to CH (10% O 2 ) for 21 days to establish CH-induced pulmonary hypertension. Primary cultured rat distal PASMCs were applied for the molecular biological experiments. First, hypoxic exposure led to 2.5-fold and 1-fold increases of caveolin-1 protein expression in the distal pulmonary arteries and PASMCs, respectively. Second, effective knockdown of caveolin-1 significantly reduced hypoxia-induced SOCE for 58.2% and 41.5%, measured by Mn 21 quenching and extracellular Ca 21 restoration experiments, respectively. These results suggested that caveolin-1 acts as a crucial regulator of SOCE, and hypoxia-up-regulated caveolin-1 largely accounts for hypoxia-elevated SOCE in PASMCs. Then, by using a high-potency PPARg agonist, GW1929, we detected that PPARg activation inhibited SOCE and caveolin-1 protein for 62.5% and 59.8% under hypoxia, respectively, suggesting that caveolin-1 also acts as a key target during the suppressive process of PPARg on SOCE in PASMCs. Moreover, by using effective small interfering RNAs against PPARg and caveolin-1, and PPARg antagonist, T0070907, we observed that PPARg plays an inhibitory role on caveolin-1 protein by promoting its lysosomal degradation, without affecting the messenger RNA level. PPARg inhibits SOCE, at least partially, by suppressing cellular caveolin-1 protein in PASMCs.Keywords: pulmonary hypertension; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g; caveolin-1; store-operated calcium entry; pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a severe pulmonary vascular disease characterized by sustained increase in the pulmonary arterial pressure and excessive thickening and remodeling of the distal small pulmonary arteries (PAs). These functional and structural changes then lead to right ventricular hypertrophy and, eventually, heart failure. Nowadays, it is well accepted that the dysregulation of the proliferation and migration of the PA smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) are the main reasons contributing to the abnormally excessive thickening and remodeling of the distal PAs during PH pathogenesis (1-3).Previous studies have described that the increase of the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca 21 ] i ) acts a major factor