Artery interposed to vein did not develop atherosclerosis and underwent atrophic remodeling in cholesterol-fed rabbits
Introduction
Autologous vein grafts remain the main surgical source for many types of vascular reconstruction [1], [2] to replace the diseased arteries although the 1 year occlusion rate of these grafts was as high as more than 20% due to neointima hyperplasia and accelerated graft atherosclerosis [3]. The plaque after vein graft belongs to vulnerable plaque characterized by diffuse intima thickening, abundant foam cell component and sparse intercellular substance [4]. Increased hemoynamic load to grafted vein was supposed to be the main reason for the accelerated vein graft atherosclerosis. To date, little is known about the effect of decreased hemodynamic load for grafted vessel (artery interposed to vein) on the atherosclerosis development and vascular remodeling in atherosclerotic rabbit model. The purpose of the present study is, therefore, to observe the serial changes of grafted common carotid artery (GCCA) interposed to external jugular vein in rabbits fed with high lipid diet.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Twenty-four male New Zealand white rabbits (Shanghai experiment animal center, Chinese Academy of Sciences) weighing 2.5–3 kg were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (30 mg/kg intraperitoneally). Atropine sulfate (1.4 mg/kg, i.p.) was also administered to maintain the respiratory tract dry. The rabbit was fixed in a supine position with its neck extended. A midline incision was made on the ventral side of the neck from the mandible to the sternum. Under a dissecting microscope (SXP1, Shanghai
Serum lipid levels
In rabbits receiving high lipid diet, serum TC, LDL and HDL increased continuously and reached the maximum on the 30th day. TG was increased only in rabbits fed with high lipid diet for 90 days (Table 1). Coefficient of variation ranged from 5.3 to 28.0% for TC, 28.7 to 55.7% for TG, 22.2 to 74.8% for HDL-C and 20.1 to 56.2% for LDL-C.
Light microscope
Vessel wall thickness decreased gradually in CCCA (Fig. 1, open bars, −50% after 12 weeks) and to a great extent, in GCCA (Fig. 1, black bars, −80% after 12 weeks). The fatty streak was seen at 4 weeks (Fig. 2D) and the semilunar atherosclerotic plaque at 12 weeks (Fig. 2E) post surgery in CCCA but not in GCCA (Fig. 2H and I). At 12 weeks post surgery, the vascular wall contains only 2–3 layers of smooth muscle cells in GCCA (Fig. 2I).
Electron microscopy
Fig. 3A shows the long fusiform endothelial cells before
Discussion
The major finding of present study was that the arteries interposed to veins did not develop atherosclerosis and underwent atrophic remodeling, while control right common carotid arteries developed atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits. To our knowledge, it is the first time that arteries were interposed into veins in cholesterol-fed rabbits to explore the effect of local hemodynamical load and hyperlipidemia on grafted artery remodeling and sensibility to atherosclerosis.
Both mechanical
Acknowledgement
The study was sponsored by key program of national basic research (G20006903).
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Hongqi Zhang and Aijun Sun contributed equally to this work.