Correlation of restenosis after rabbit carotid endarterectomy and inflammatory cytokines

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To establish rabbit model of restenosis after carotid endarterectomy surgery, and to study tissue inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) involved in restenosis.@*METHODS@#A total of 32 rabbits were randomly divided into two groups: model group and control group. The right common carotid artery in rabbits was damaged by carotid endar terectomy in model group. The tissues were harvested at different time points respectively, the pathological changes of the vascular wall after operation were observed at different time points. The changes of expression of tissue vascular wall inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) at different time points after the surgery was observed by RT-PCR, and the changes of serum inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL -6) were detected by ELISA.@*RESULTS@#The new intima appeared after 7 days of the injury and reached the peak on 28 d which is uneven and significantly thicker than the control group (P<0.01). The tissue inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) were significantly increased after the rabbit common carotid artery injury, which was significant difference compared with normal control group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The tissue inflammatory factors significantly increase after the rabbit carotid artery injury, which suggests the mutual concurrent effects of inflammatory cytokines can result in the proliferation of vascular restenosis.