Association of TLR4 gene polymorphisms with large artery atherosclerotic stroke and vascular bed selectivity of atherosclerotic lesions / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the association of TLR4 gene polymorphisms with large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke and liability to atherosclerosis in an ethnic Han population from northern China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The study has involved 286 LAA stroke patients and 300 healthy controls. The LAA group has been divided 4 subsets according to angiostenosis conditions. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and pyrosequencing were employed to analyze three single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) (rs1927914, rs1927911 and rs2149356) of the TLR4 gene. A Haploview software package was used to analyze the haplotypes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SNPs rs1927911 and rs2149356 were associated with LAA stroke. Genotypic and allelic frequencies of rs1927914 did not differ significantly between the two groups. Genetic variants of the three SNPs did not vary significantly between all subsets. Haplotype analysis was revealed a significant difference between the LAA group and the control group. Compared with the controls, the frequencies of haplotypes H2 and H8 were lower, and that of H3 was greater in the LAA group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>An association between the TLR4 gene polymorphisms and LAA stroke subtype in ethnic Han population in northern China has been found. However, no association of liability to atherosclerosis in different vascular bed has been found with these polymorphisms.</p>

A rat carotid atherosclerosis modal induced by artery clamping with high-cholesterol diet and vitamin D3 / 国际脑血管病杂志

Objective To investigate the feasibility of a rat carotid atherosclerosis model induced by artery clamping with high-cholesterol diet and vitamin D3.Methods Twenty Wista rats were randomly divided into either a general diet group (n =5) or a high cholesterol diet group (n =15).After clamping the right common carotid arteries of the rats in the high cholesterol diet group,they were fed with high fat diet,and vitamin D3 (600 000 IU/kg) was injected intraperitoneally.The lipid levels of the general diet group and the high cholesterol diet group were detected at 6 and 12 weeks respectively.The bilateral cormmon carotid arteries were selected for preparing paraffin sections and were stained with HE staining.The pathological changes in blood vessels were observed.Results The levels of serum total cholesterol at 12 weeks (2.803 ± 1.307 mmol/L vs.1.513 ±0.281 mmol/L; P=0.017) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.660± 0.260 mmol/L vs.0.311 ±0.078 mmol/L; P =0.003) in the high-cholesterol diet group were significantly higher than those at 6 weeks.The histopathological examination showed that the common carotid artery intimas on the clamping sides were incomplete,the foam cell deposition was observed under intima,the atherosclerotic plaques or fibrous plaques were observed on the surface of cavity,inside the plaques contained necrotic tissue,and thrombosis was observed in the cavity.The common carotid artery intima-media thickness in the general diet group (n =5) at 12 weeks was 8.3 ± 1.1 μm.The sham-operated sides (n =20) and clamping sides (n =20) were 8.8 ± 0.7 μm and 97.4 ±25.7 μm,respectively.There were significant differences among the three groups (F =116.313,P=0.000).The clamping sides in the high-cholesterol diet group were significantly higher than the shamoperated sides in the high-cholesterol diet group (P=0.000) and the general diet group (P =0.000).Conclusions Common carotid artery clamping with high-cholesterol diet and vitamin D3 is a simple and feasible method for inducing a rat carotid atherosclerosis model.