Abstract:Aim To study the effect of intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (IHH) on vascular remodeling in apolipoprotein E gene knockout (ApoE-/-) mice Methods 14 female ApoE-/- mice were randomly divided into control group and IHH group at 8 weeks of age. IHH group was put into a low pressure chamber simulating the hypobaric hypoxia environment of 4000 m altitude for 8 hours per day, lasting 60 days. At the end of the intervention, the collagen content and expressions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP) in aortic tissue were measured. Results The collagen content of aortic wall in IHH group was significantly decreased (P<0.01), expression level of MMP-9 was significantly elevated and TIMP-2 was significantly reduced compared with control group (P<0.01), but MMP-2, MMP-14 had no significant difference among the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion IHH might decrease the collagen content of aortic wall and promote vascular remodeling through increasing the expressional imbalance of MMP-9 and TIMP-2.