Relationship Between Echocardiographically Evaluated Aortic Stiffness and Prolidase Activity in Aortic Tissue of Patients with Critical Coronary Artery Disease

Background and Aims The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between echocardiographically evaluated aortic stiffness and prolidase activity in aortic tissue of patients with critical coronary occlusion. Methods Thirty six patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) scheduled for CABG and 30 control patients with no CAD proven angiographically were enrolled in this study. Plasma prolidase activities were quantified spectrophotometrically. During performance of the proximal anastomoses in the study group, a piece of aortic tissue was taken by punch and tissue prolidase activity was quantified spectrophotometrically and also evaluated pathologically by prolidase immunostaining. Eventually, the correlation of plasma prolidase activity, aortic tissue prolidase activity and aortic prolidase immunohistochemical staining with aortic stiffness was studied. Results The correlation of aortic stiffness with aortic tissue prolidase activity ( rs = 0.364; p = 0.029) and aortic prolidase immunohistochemical staining ( rs = 0.354; p = 0.034) was significant in the study group. However, the correlation of plasma prolidase activity with aortic stiffness was not statistically significant ( rs = 0.083; p = 0.292). Linear regression analysis showed that the aortic stiffness β index was significantly associated with aortic tissue prolidase activity (β = 0.354; p = 0.034) and statin usage (β = −0.334; 0.047) in the study group. Regression analysis revealed that ATPA and statin use were predictors of aortic stiffness, and API+ was found to be the predictor for ATPA (β = 0.449; p = 0.006). Conclusion Aortic tissue prolidase activity was more significant than plasma prolidase activity and aortic tissue prolidase immunohistochemical staining in the relationship with aortic stiffness in the critical CAD group.