Hisanori Horiuchi, MD; Masayuki Yokode, MD; Kenji Ishii, MD; Mikimaro Cho, MD; Seijiro Hara; Atsushi Sakai; Kazuo Kanai; Toyohiro Tsukada, MD; Toru Kita, MD

Abstract
We developed an organ culture system in order to examine the effect of intraluminal pressure on intimal thickening in injured arteries. After endothelial denudation, an excised rabbit common carotid artery was incubated at 37 ūC in a glass bottle perfused with Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium containing 10% fetal calf serum at a constant flow rate of 6 ml/h at various static pressure of 60, 95, 130, 165, or 200 cmH₂O. Intimal thickening, which consisted of smooth muscle cells and extracellular matrix, increased in a time- and pressure-dependent manner up to 130 cmH₂O. Excessive pressures (165 and 200 cmH₂O), however, caused necrosis in the media. These results suggest that a rise in intraluminal pressure accelerates intimal thickening in injured arteries.
(Jpn Circ J 1997; 61: 704-708)

Key Words: Intimal thickening; Injured artery; Hypertension; Stretching; Organ culture

Mailing address: Hisanori Horiuchi, MD, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto 606, Japan