Treatment with Nesiritide, A Recombinant B-Type Natriuretic Peptide, Reduces Vascular Remodeling Following Balloon-Induced Endothelial Injuries in Rabbits

Treatment with Nesiritide, A Recombinant B-Type Natriuretic Peptide, Reduces Vascular Remodeling Following Balloon-Induced Endothelial Injuries in Rabbits

SHU-QIN LIU,¹ YAN-YUN YU,¹ HONG-WEN XIE,¹ KE YU¹ and LE-XIN WANG²

¹Department of Cardiology, Liaocheng People's Hospital and Liaocheng Clinical School of Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong, P.R. China
²School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia

Re-stenosis or remodeling of coronary and peripheral arteries remains a major complication following balloon-angioplasty or stenting. This study was designed to investigate the effect of nesiritide, a recombinant B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), on vascular remodeling following balloon-induced endothelial injuries. Twenty-eight male New Zealand rabbits were divided into nesiritide-treated (0.1 mg/kg/day, sc, for 4 weeks, n = 10), saline-treated control (n = 10) and sham-operated groups (n = 8). In the nesiritide and control groups, a balloon catheter was inserted to the right iliac artery to induce injuries. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was measured by immunohistochemistry. The area under internal elastic membrane of the arterial wall (643.2 ± 134.1 vs 493.7 ± 139.3 μm², p < 0.05) and the area under external elastic membrane (1495.1 ± 204.9 vs 1265.9 ± 232.6 μm², p < 0.05) in the nesiritide group were greater than those in the control group, but were smaller than those in the sham-operated group (p < 0.05). The stenosis ratio was lower in the nesiritide group than in the control group (18.7 ± 7.7% vs 38.0 ± 8.3%, p < 0.01). Importantly, the VEGF expression rate was significantly lower in the nesiritide group than in the control group (42.2 ± 8.8% vs 56.1 ± 13.1%, p < 0.05), while there were no signs of VEGF expression in the non-injured arteries of the three groups. In conclusion, nesiritide treatment reduces the stenosis of the rabbit iliac artery following balloon-induced endothelial injuries probably by decreasing VEGF expression.

keywords —— Nesiritide; vascular remodeling; VEGF; iliac artery; rabbits

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2010, 222, 219-223

Correspondence: Lexin Wang, School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.

e-mail: lwang@csu.edu.au