background: a precise understanding of the mechanism of human neointimal stenoses and atherosclerotic fibrous plaques , which give rise to thromboses in vital arteries, requires a suitable animal model that would mimic the same characteristics well. we developed a rabbit model of neointimal stenosis and fibrotic plaque rupture in the carotid artery to visualize the lesion progress and to charac...

Studies have begun to focus on the emerging function of platelets as immune and inflammatory cells that initiate and accelerate vascular inflammation. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kγ) is critically involved in a number of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. This study aims to investigate the contribution of platelet PI3Kγ to vascular remodeling under flow severely reduced conditions. M...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Large pulse pressure associates with atherosclerosis, but it is unclear if it contributes to the development of atherosclerosis or if atherosclerosis leads to pulse pressure widening. We examined whether exposure to large pulse pressure in childhood predicts carotid artery intima-media thickness in adulthood. METHODS Carotid intima-media thickness was measured in 2146 a...

OBJECTIVE Endothelial vasodilator dysfunction and carotid intima-media thickening are useful surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetic patients. However, because most studies reporting the relationships between endothelial function, intima-media thickness (IMT), and hyperglycemia have compared diabetic patients with healthy controls...

BACKGROUND Carotid intima-media thickening is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in humans. We discovered that intima formation and cell proliferation in response to carotid injury is greater in SJL/J (SJL) in comparison with C3HeB/FeJ (C3H/F) mice. The purpose of this study was to identify candidate genes contributing to intima formation. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed microarra...

Different fibronectin (FN) variants arise from the single gene transcript alternatively spliced in a tissue-specific manner (Hynes, R. O. 1985. Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 1:67-90; Owens, R. J., A. R. Kornblihtt, and F. E. Baralle. 1986. Oxf. Surv. Eurcaryotic Genes. 3:141-160). We used mAb IST-9, specific for extra domain A (ED-A) FN sequence, and cDNA probe to ED-A exon to determine whether ED-A is...

Increases in arterial wall viscosity and intima-media thickness (IMT) were found in hypertensive patients. Because smooth muscle cells are responsible for the viscous behavior of the arterial wall and they are involved in the process of thickening of the intima-media complex, this study evaluates the relationship between carotid thickness and wall viscosity. The simultaneous and noninvasive ass...

OBJECTIVE Previously we found dramatic strain-dependent differences in a low flow model of vascular remodeling. Specifically, intima formation in the left common carotid artery was approximately 30-fold greater in SJL compared to C3HeB/Fe (C3H/F) mice. We hypothesized that a few genes control intima formation in response to low flow. A C3H/F and SJL backcross resulted in broad range of N2 intim...

BACKGROUND It is widely believed that carotid artery intima-media thickening represents an early marker for the development of atheroma. However, carotid intima-media thickening might also be expected to occur in response to an increased tensile stress and decreased wall shear stress which may accompany physical exercise. DESIGN, METHODS, AND RESULTS In order to test this hypothesis 24 athlet...