Some studies found that phosphorylated AMPK is increased, while total AMPK levels remain the same, in pulmonary VSMCs from pulmonary hypertensive patients and hypoxia-induced PH mice, compared with those from healthy donors or non-PH mice, respectively (Krymskaya et al., 2011; Ibe et al., 2013). This evidence concerns the gene PRKAA1 and pulmonary hypertension.