EFFECTS OF CERTAIN VASOACTIVE PEPTIDES ON PATHOGENESIS OF VASCULAR RESTENOSIS

Objective:To investigate the effects of several vasoactive peptides on the development of arterial restenosis af-ter balloon angioplasty.Methods:In rat aortic artery restenosis model produced by denudation of aortic endothelia,we observed changes of endothelin(ET),angiotensnⅡ(AⅡ),calctionin gene-related peptide(CGRP) and adrenomedullin (Adm)in plasma and aorta with radioimmunoassay and expression of hypertension-related gene(HRG-1) with se-mi-quantitative RT-PCR ,and studied the effects of these peptides on intimal hyperplasia,intima/media ratio and MAPK activities of aortic artery after angioplasty respectively.Furthermore,in cultured cells,we studied the ef-fects of these peptides on vascular smooth muscle cell(VSMC) proliferation and expression of HRG-1 of VSMC from spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto(WKY) rats with ^3H-TdR incorporation and RT-PCR respectively.Results:After angioplasty ,the levels of ET and AII in plasma and aorta significantly increased,accompanied with VSMC proliferation and neointima hyperplasia.On day 10 after angioplasty,the levels of ET in plasma and aorta increased by 69% and 124% respectively,compared with sham group(P