ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the vessel structure changes of carotid artery with age in normal adults with a newly-developed 3-dimensional ultrasound imaging modality.Methods One hundred and twenty-five normal adult volunteers were divided into five groups:group A,20-29 years old,25 cases;group B,30-39 years old,27 cases;group C,40-49 years old,28 cases;group D,50-59 years old,23 cases;group E,older than 60 years old,22 cases.The straight sections of common carotid arteries were scanned by full-volume three-dimensional ultrasound probe.With a vessel plaque quantification software (VPQ),the following parameters were obtained:intima-media thickness (IMT),vessel total area (VTA),vessel lumen area (VLA),vessel wall area (VWA),and normalized wall index (NWI).Results IMT,VTA,VWA,VLA and NWI were all positively correlated with age (r =0.79,0.48,0.77,0.27 and 0.67 respectively,P =0.00),and there was significant difference among age groups (P ＜0.01).IMT,VTA,VWA increased with age gradually whereas VLA increased only in group E and NWI showed no significant difference between group E and D.VWA and VTA of males were significantly greater than those of females in group A,B and C,and VLA of males was significantly greater than females in group A and B.There was no significant difference in IMT and NWI between gender groups.Conclusions Age is an important factor to carotid remodeling,and IMT,VTA and VWA increase with age,but VLA keeps constant in people under 60-year-old while NWI becomes stable in people over 50-year-old.It is essential to consider the physiological changes of carotid with age when pathophysiological process of atherosclerosis is involved.
ABSTRACT
In order to investigate the effects of puerarin on pulmonary vascular remodeling and protein kinase C-α (PKC-α) in chronic exposure smoke rats, 54 male Wistar rats were randomly di- vided into 7 groups: control group (C group), smoke exposure groups (S4w group, Saw group), puer- arin groups (P4w group, P8w group), propylene glycol control groups (PC4w group,PC8w group). Rats were exposed to cigarette smoke or air for 4 to 8 weeks. Rats in puerarin groups also received puer- arin. To evaluate vascular remodeling, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SM-actin) staining was used to count the percentage of completely muscularised vessels to intraacinar pulmonary arteries (CMA/IAPA) which was determined by morphometric analysis of histological sections. Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell (PASMC) apoptosis was detected by in situ end labeling technique (TUNEL), and proliferation by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) staining. Reverse transcrip- tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis were done to detect the PKC-α mRNA and protein expression in pulmonary arteries. The results showed that in cigarette smoke-exposed rats the percentage of CMA/IAPA and α-SM-actin expres- sion were increased greatly, PASMC apoptosis was increased and proliferation was markedly in- creased; Apoptosis indices (AI) and proliferation indices (PI) were higher than in C group; AI and PI were correlated with vascular remodeling indices; The expression of PKC-ct mRNA and protein in pulmonary arteries was significantly higher than in C group. In rats treated with puerarin, the per- eentage of CMA/IAPA and cell proliferation was reduced, whereas PASMC apoptosis was increased; The expression levels of PKC-α mRNA and protein were lower than in smoke exposure rats. There was no difference among all these data between S groups and PC groups. These findings suggested that cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling was most likely an effect of the imbal- ance of PASMC proliferation and apoptosis. Puerarin appears to be able to reduce cell proliferation and vascular remodeling possibly through PKC signaling transduction pathway.
ABSTRACT
70% were enrolled into the study. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) was used before procedure, immediately after the final inflation of balloon and at the time of 3 month follow up. Cross sectional area(CSA) at the site of lesions, proximal and distal reference segment(vessel CSA,lumen CSA, plaque CSA) and remodeling ration were calculated respectively. Percutaneous cutting balloon angioplasty and intravascular irradiation was adopted to treat restenotic lesions during 3 month follow up period. Results Thirty seven of 76 cases had positive remodeling .There was no difference in the age, gender and other clinical parameters between positive and non positive remodeling(39 cases) groups. The remodeling ration in positive group [( 1.40 ? 0.13 )mm 2] was larger than that in the control group [( 0.79 ? 0.11 )mm 2,P