Effect of endothelium on glycosaminoglycan accumulation in injured rabbit aorta.

Previous studies have indicated that reendothelialized regions of injured rabbit aortas are more susceptible to diet-induced atherosclerosis than persistently deendothelialized regions or uninjured aortas. However, the mechanism responsible for this selective lipid deposition is not understood. One possibility is that these regions differ with respect to the quantity and type of glycosaminoglycan-containing proteoglycans which are known to interact with lipoproteins. To determine whether these regions differed with respect to their glycosaminoglycan composition, the authors divided 53 rabbits into four groups. Groups IA and IB were fed a regular diet beginning 5 weeks prior to aortic deendothelialization; Groups IIA and IIB were fed the same diet supplemented with 0.5% cholesterol. The rabbits were continued on these diets following aortic deendothelialization with a balloon catheter. Those in Groups IA and IIA were sacrificed either at 2-5 weeks or 6-8 weeks following deendothelialization; proteoglycans were assessed morphometrically following staining with alcian blue. Groups IB and IIB were sacrificed at 10 weeks following injury; glycosaminoglycans were extracted from deendothelialized and reendothelialized aortas, separated by electrophoresis, and quantitated by scanning densitometry. Morphometric analysis of stained aortic sections revealed significantly increased quantities of alcianophilic material in the neointima of reendothelialized aortas as compared with deendothelialized aortas in both diet groups. Chemical analysis revealed significantly more of each glycosaminoglycan in reendothelialized aortas when compared with deendothelialized or uninjured aortas. The major glycosaminoglycans present in all regions were heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate; and although absolute quantities of these particular glycosaminoglycans increased in the reendothelialized region, their relative percentages remained the same for each area analyzed. Cholesterol feeding did not appear to influence glycosaminoglycan concentration and composition in reendothelialized and deendothelialized regions when compared with normal diets, but cholesterol feeding alone did increase aortic glycosaminoglycans in uninjured aortas. The results suggest that the presence of endothelium influences the quantity and type of glycosaminoglycans accumulating in the neointima, and that the differences in proteoglycans in the reendothelialized artery may account at least in part for the propensity of this area to accumulate lipid and evolve as atherosclerosis.

Platelet adhesion to cultured vascular endothelial cells. A quantitative monolayer adhesion assay.

We have developed a sensitive in vitro method for measuring the adherence of platelets to cultured vascular cells. Human platelets, in citrated plasma, were radiolabeled with [3H]adenine to achieve a specific activity 100 to 1000 times greater than that obtainable with chromium-51 or [14C]serotonin. After exposure of cultured cell monolayers to radiolabeled PRP, nonadherent platelets were removed by a standardized wash procedure, and the number of adherent platelets calculated from liquid scintillation measurements. Significant release of platelet-associated radioactivity was not detectable after challenge with standard aggregating agents, and uptake of plasma (unincorporated) [3H]adenine by cultured cells was minimized by the addition of unlabeled adenine during the adhesion assay. Scanning electron microscopy, performed in parallel, allowed visual discrimination between platelet adhesion and aggregation as well as morphologic examination of the interacting platelets and cells. After incubation with PRP for 30 min, primary cultures of umbilical vein HEC bound less than 0.05% of added platelets (less than 1 platelet per cell). In contrast, virally transformed HEC showed increased platelet adhesion that was directly proportional to cultured cell density. Visual counts of the number of adherent platelets in scanning electron micrographs showed good agreement with calculated radiometric data. Comparative studies indicated that suspensions of washed, radiolabeled human platelets also can be utilized in this monolayer adhesion assay. This in vitro model system should facilitate study of the mechanisms of thromboresistance of vascular endothelium and its pathophysiologic alterations.

In vitro studies of thromboresistance: the role of prostacyclin (PGI2) in platelet adhesion to cultured normal and virally transformed human vascular endothelial cells.

Circulating blood platelets normally do not adhere to, or aggregate on, the vascular endothelial lining. We have developed an in vitro model system to study the mechanisms of endothelial resistance to platelet adhesion, and to determine the role of prostacyclin (PGI2) in this process. This system combines scanning electron microscopy and measurement of bound (3H)-adenine-labeled platelets to examine platelet adhesion to primary cultures of human endothelial cells, which generate PGI2-like activity, and to virally transformed endothelial cells, which lack this activity. Under basal conditions primary cultures bound less than one platelet per cell (228 +/- 8 c.p.m. per 10(4) cells, mean +/- standard error of the mean). Inhibition of endothelial PGI2 production by 50 microM aspirin or 2.8 microM indomethacin did not result in a significant change in platelet adherence. Stimulating prostaglandin production with arachidonic acid, or adding exogenous PGI2 did not depress platelet adhesion below the basal levels observed with untreated cultures. In contrast ot primary cultures, transformed endothelium showed markedly increased platelet adherence (3,993 +/- 194 c.p.m. per 10(4), mean +/- standard error of the mean), in the form of single platelets and clusters of two to five nonaggregated platelets. Although exogenous PGI2 was effective in hibiting platelet adherence to these transformed cells, even pharmacologic doses (1 microgram. per ml.) did not depress adhesion to the basal levels associated with normal cells. These results suggest that endothelial properties essential to blood compatibility are altered by viral transformation, and further, that generation of PGI2 by normal endothelium is not the key factor which prevents platelet adherence to the intact vessel wall.

Heparitin sulfates (heparan sulfates) of atherosclerosis-susceptible and atherosclerosis-resistant pigeon aortas.

Electrophoretic mobilities of heparitin sulfates (HS) from the thoracic aorta and the celiac bifurcation of atherosclerosis-susceptible White Carneau and atherosclerosis-resistant Show Racer pigeons at four ages were examined. Atherosclerosis-susceptible White Carneau aortas contain, in addition to their normal HS component, a variant type of HS (HS') in pre, early- and moderately-atherosclerotic celiac foci which is not found in the thoracic regions of either breed or in Show Racer celiac foci at any age. These findings are interpreted to suggest a role of HS' in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and to propose an explanation for atherosclerotic susceptibility and resistance in pigeons.