Laser-induced carotid artery injury model in the rat for therapeutic agent screening

Abstract

The aims of this study were to establish a rat model of carotid artery injury and to evaluate its suitability for evaluating therapeutic agents active against endothelial proliferation. Wistar-Kyoto rats were injected intravenously with the photochemically reactive dyes rose bengal or Evans blue, and the carotid artery was then focally irradiated with laser light of the appropriate wavelength. Histological sections of the carotid artery were analyzed to determine the appropriate parameters for this model. Ferulic acid was used to assess the suitability of this model for drug screening. No animal died as a result of the photochemical treatment. Endothelial proliferation in the carotid artery was observed in rats injected with rose Bengal and exposed to green laser light. Ferulic acid (400 mg/kg per day) significantly (p<0.05) reduced endothelial proliferation in the carotid artery 28 days after injury in dye-treated animals compared with vehicle-treated animals. This simple experimental rat model is suitable for studying factors inhibiting endothelial thickening after vessel damage and for developing therapeutic strategies active against endothelial proliferation.

Biomedical Applications of Photo- and Sono-Activated Rose Bengal: A Review

“…This demonstrated an antioxidant effect that counteracted endothelial proliferation and hyperplasia. 70,71 Photo-activated RB was also used to create a successful and reproducible rat model of spinal cord injury inducing infarction, loss of neurons, and reactive gliosis for testing neuroprotective drugs. 72 All previous photothrombosis models had mainly focused on the short-term effects of photo-activated RB to induce lesions in blood vessels.…”

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