H. Koyama et Ma. Reidy, REINJURY OF ARTERIAL LESIONS INDUCES INTIMAL SMOOTH-MUSCLE CELL REPLICATION THAT IS NOT CONTROLLED BY FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR-2, Circulation research, 80(3), 1997, pp. 408-417
In this study we have examined the response of rat carotid arteries wi
th intimal lesions to an angioplasty injury. Rat carotid arteries were
subjected to injury with a 2F Fogarty catheter (first injury), and 28
days later the same arteries were subjected to reinjury with a 1.5-mm
-diameter coronary dilation catheter (second injury) or a sham operati
on. After the second injury, the injured arterial surfaces were covere
d by a platelet monolayer, with occasional small thrombi. The size of
the intimal area was significantly increased 28 days after the second
injury, although the luminal area was not changed at this time. Intima
l and medial cell replication, measured by 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine lab
eling, was significantly increased at 2 days after the second injury b
ut was markedly reduced by 7 days. Addition of fibroblast growth facto
r-2 (FGF2, 60 mu g IV) did not increase smooth muscle cell (SMC) repli
cation in arteries subjected to the second injury, and replication was
not inhibited with an antibody against FGF2 (120 mg IV). Both these r
eagents, however, did significantly affect SMC replication in normal c
arotid arteries subjected to Fogarty catheter injury. In a similar man
ner, heparin (888 UPS units/kg body wt IV) did not inhibit cell replic
ation after second injury, although it did suppress SMC replication af
ter a single injury. One conclusion is that rat intimal cells in vivo
are different from medial SMCs and that other, as-yet-unknown, factors
are important for their proliferation.