Coronary Vascular Development in Response to Increased Right Ventricular Pressure Loads

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Abstract
Pressure loads were applied to the right ventricles of newborn lambs and adult sheep by surgical narrowing of the lumen of the main pulmonary artery. Significant increases in right ventricular weight and in the diameter of the right coronary artery occurred in both age groups of animals, compared with corresponding control animals. The evidence suggests that the degree of increase in the arterial diameters, relative to the increase in ventricular muscle mass, is similar in both newborn and adult animals. However, the results suggest also that the capacity to respond to pressure loads, in terms of increased muscle mass, is relatively greater in the newborn animals than in the adults.