Pulmonary arterial
hypertension (PAH) is a complex devastating
disease relevant to remarkable metabolic dysregulation. Although various
research studies on PAH from a metabolic perspective have been emerging,
pathogenesis of PAH varies in different categories. Research on metabolic
reprogramming in flow-associated PAH remains insufficient. An untargeted
metabolomic profiling platform was used to evaluate the metabolic
profile of pulmonary arteries (PAs) as well as the right ventricle
(RV) in a flow-associated PAH rat model in the present work. A total
of 79 PAs and 128 RV metabolites were significantly altered in PAH
rats, among which 39 metabolites were assessed as shared dysregulated
metabolites in PAs and the RV. Pathway analysis elucidated that, in
PAs of PAH rats, pathways of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan
biosynthesis and linoleic acid metabolism were significantly altered,
while in the RV, arginine biosynthesis and linoleic acid metabolism
were altered dramatically. Further integrated analysis of shared dysregulated
PA and RV metabolites demonstrated that the linoleic acid metabolism
and the arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism were the key pathways involved
in the pathogenesis of flow-associated PAH. Results obtained from
the present work indicate that the PAH pathogenesis could be mediated
by widespread metabolic reprogramming. In particular, the dysregulation
of AA metabolism may considerably contribute to the development of
high blood flow-associated PAH.