The beneficial effect of phVEGF165 transfer on vascular remodelling after balloon injury and its possible mechanisms / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of phVEGF165 transfer on vascular remodelling after balloon injury and its possible mechanisms.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>90 New Zealand white rabbits were divided randomly into 3 groups: group I (balloon injury group), group II (pAdtrackCMV group) and group III (pAdtrackCMV-VEGF165 group). All animals were given hypercholesterol diet for 7 days before experiment and continued to receive hypercholesterol diet until being killed. Each group was further divided into five subgroups according to the sacrifice time (3 days, 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after transfection). Blood samples and arteries were harvested for further analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At the end of 2 weeks, areas of neointima plus media of group III were smaller than those of group I and II (P < 0.05). The areas under external elastic membrane were larger in group III at 4 weeks and lumen stenosis rates were significantly lower than group I and II (P < 0.05 or 0.01). In group III, VEGF165, metalloproteinases (MMPs) -1, -2, -9 and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) 1, 2 could be detected from 3 days after gene transfer and reached the highest level at 2 weeks time and could not be detected by 8 weeks time. In groups I and II, MMP-2 and TIMP-1, -2 could be detected during the whole procedure and the value of TIMP1/MMP1 was significantly higher than in group III (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Remodelling is the main reason for restenosis (RS) after vascular balloon injury. Local pAdtrackCMV-VEGF165 transfer can specifically change the expression of MMPs and facilitate the positive remodelling process, hence, inhibiting restenosis.</p>

Canstatin: a novel inhibitor of angiogenesis / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: As a human basement membrane-derived inhibitor of angiogenesis and tumor growth, canstatin has been paid great attention since it was isolated and identified in 2000. Canstatin significantly inhibited human endothelial cell migration and proliferation and induced apoptosis, suggesting that it might be a powerful and potential therapeutic molecule for atherosclerosis,unstable angina and tumor.

Inhibitory effect of canstatin RNA transfection on the growth of cultured rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To investigate the effect of canstatin on cultured rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMC). METHODS: By means of cationic liposome mediated method, canstatin RNA was transferred into cultured VSMC. The proliferation quantity of VSMC were determined by the cell counting method and thymidine(-TdR) incorporation. RESULTS: Canstatin RNA could be effectively transferred into cultured primary rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells by the cationic liposome-Dosper and could markedly inhibit VSMC proliferation. CONCLUSION: Transfection of canstatin RNA could inhibit the growth of VSMC in vitro.

Screening of the differentially expressed genes in lymphocytes of patients with unstable angina with suppression subtractive hybridization / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To screen and identify the differentially expressed genes in lymphocytes of patients with unstable angina in order to find the molecular mechanism of unstable angina. METHODS: Suppression subtractive hybridizations (SSH) and dot blot hybridizations were performed to screen the relatively differentially expressed genes in lymphocyte RNA between the patients with unstable angina pectoris and stable angina pectoris. The obtained expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were used as probes to perform Reverse Northern blot with forward and reverse suppression products. And the positive ESTs were performed RNA slot hybridization with unstable and stable angina group. The obtained ESTs were sequenced and analyzed using BLAST (nr) at NCBI. RESULTS: Three up-regulated ESTs in the unstable angina group, and one down-regulated EST in the stable angina group were obtained. All of them are sequences of known genes. CONCLUSION: All these ESTs may be associated with the unstablization of plaque of coronary artery in patients with unstable angina.

VEGF gene transfer modulates MMPs expression after vascular balloon injury / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To investigate the effect of VEGF gene transfer on matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases(TIMPs) expression after vascular balloon injury. METHODS: 90 New Zealand white rabbits were divided into 3 groups randomly: group Ⅰ(balloon injury group), groupⅡ (pAdtrackCMV group) and group Ⅲ(pAdtrackCMV-VEGF165 group). Hypercholesterol diet was given for 7 days before experiment and continued to receive until the animals were killed. Each group were divided into five subgroups according to the sacrifice time. Blood samples and iliac arteries were harvested for further analysis. RESULTS: In group Ⅰ and Ⅱ, MMP2 and TIMP1,2 expressions were detected during the whole process ,while in group III ,MMP1,2,9 and TIMP1,2 could be detected from 3 days after gene transfer and reached the highest level at 1 week and could not be detected at 8 week. CONCLUSIONS: Imbalance expression of MMPs and TIMPs occurred after vascular injury and this may be the reason of pathological remodeling. Local phAdtrackCMV-VEGF165 transfer could specifically change the expression of MMPs and facilitate the positive remodeling process after vascular injury.

Changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM and METHODS: To study the changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and its significance. Eighty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. MI was produced by left coronary arterial ligation in 80 animals, and eight rats undergoing thoracotomy but not coronary ligation served as controls (sham).Blood samples were drawn from the right atrium before (sham animals) and 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 hours and 2, 3, 5, 7, 14 days after MI( n =8,respectively). Serum VEGF concentrations were measured by a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a rabbit polyclonal antibody specific for VEGF. RESULTS: In 8 sham animals, the concentration of serum VEGF was (66 99?17 83) pg/mL. Six hours after MI, the level of serum VEGF significantly increased to (125 68?28 07)pg/mL ( P