ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

International Angiology 2004 June;23(2):139-43

Copyright © 2004 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Effects of acetylsalicylic acid on experimental atherogenesis induced in rabbits

Kouraklis G., Patapis P., Misiakos E., Glinavou A., Sioka C. Karayiannakos P. E.

2nd Department of Propedeutic Surgery and Laboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Aim. Inflam­ma­tion relat­ed pro­cess­es play a key role in the cur­rent etio­log­ic model of ath­ero­scler­o­sis and its acute com­pli­ca­tions. In addi­tion, plate­let-­derived ­growth fac­tors stim­u­late the neo­in­ti­mal pro­life­ra­tion of resten­o­sis after cor­o­nary inter­ven­tions. Reduc­ing plate­let accu­mu­la­tion at treat­ed sites may atten­u­ate resten­o­sis. The pur­pose of this experi­men­tal study was to inves­ti­gate the ­effect of acet­yl­sal­i­cyl­ic acid (ASA), a wide­ly used anti-plate­let and anti-inflam­ma­to­ry agent on the devel­op­ment and ­extent of ath­ero­scler­o­sis.
Meth­ods. Four­ty-eight male white New Zea­land rab­bits were sep­ar­at­ed in 4 ­groups (12 ani­mals each group). Group I ­received a diet of 2% cho­les­te­rol and 6% corn oil for 3 ­months. Group II ­received a diet of 2% cho­les­te­rol and 6% corn oil and in addi­tion ­received 3 mg of ASA/kg daily intra­mus­cu­lar (i.m.) for 3 ­months. Group III ­received the same diet, and in addi­tion ­received 10 mg of ASA/kg daily i.m. for 3 ­months. Group IV ­received the same diet and in addi­tion ­received 50 mg of ASA/kg daily i.m. for 3 ­months. Ani­mals were sac­ri­ficed after 3 ­months.
­Results. ASA ­reduced the serum lev­els of total cho­les­te­rol, total lip­ids, tri­gly­ce­rides and LDL cho­les­te­rol. There was sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence in the ­extent of ath­e­ros­cle­rot­ic ­lesions ­between ani­mals which ­received dif­fer­ent doses of ASA and that ani­mals which did not ­received any ASA. High dose ASA treat­ment result­ed in an ­increase in fast­ing plas­ma glu­cose, asso­ciat­ed with a reduc­tion in total cho­les­te­rol and tri­gly­ce­rides.
Con­clu­sion. Our ­results sug­gest that there is a pro­tec­tive ­effect on ath­ero­scler­o­sis devel­op­ment of ASA down ­stream from where it low­ers plas­ma fatty acid con­cen­tra­tions. How­ev­er, fur­ther stud­ies are ­required to ver­i­fy that ­effect.