Arterial wall remodeling under sustained axial twisting in rats

Abstract

Blood vessels often experience torsion along their axes and it is essential to understand their biological responses and wall remodeling under torsion. To this end, a rat model was developed to investigate the arterial wall remodeling under sustained axial twisting in vivo. Rat carotid arteries were twisted at 180 degrees along the longitudinal axis through a surgical procedure and maintained for different durations up to 4 weeks. The wall remodeling in these twisted arteries was examined using histology, immunohistochemistry and fluorescent microscopy. Our data showed that arteries remodeled under twisting in a time-dependent manner during the 4 weeks post-surgery. Cell proliferation, MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions, medial wall thickness and lumen diameter increased while collagen to elastin ratio decreased. While the size and number of internal elastic lamina fenestrae increased with elongated shapes, the endothelial cells elongated and aligned towards the blood flow direction gradually. These results demonstrated that sustained axial twisting results in artery remodeling in vivo. The rat carotid artery twisting model is an effective in vivo model for studying arterial wall remodeling under long-term torsion. These results enrich our understanding of vascular biology and arterial wall remodeling under mechanical stresses.

microRNA-204-5p participates in atherosclerosis via targeting MMP-9

“…Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a group of more than 26 neutral zinc-dependent endopeptidases [11], are known to be associated with normal vessels remodeling [12], wound healing [13] and inflammation [14]. Recently, MMPs were found in atherosclerotic tissues, and MMP-9 was particularly evident in unstable atherosclerotic plaques while weak in stable atherosclerotic plaques [15].…”

Efeito de uma matricriptina derivada do colágeno I na trombose e remodelamento vascular na aorta abdominal de camundongos

“…As artérias in vivo estão sujeitas a diferentes tipos de estresses mecânicos aos quais elas devem se adaptar, como a força de cisalhamento do fluxo sanguíneo no lúmen do vaso, pressão, atrito com o tecido circundante e os movimentos corporais (Wang et al, 2017). Assim sendo, sabe-se que alterações no fluxo sanguíneo, pressão e o alongamento axial do vaso levam ao remodelamento da parede arterial (Han et al, 2003;Bell et al, 2016).…”