Adventitial cells do not contribute to neointimal mass after balloon angioplasty of the rat common carotid artery.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies suggest that the migration of adventitial cells into the neointima after balloon angioplasty might have an important role in vascular lesion formation. The current experiments were designed to study the migration of adventitial cells in response to mechanical injury of the rat carotid artery.


RESULTS
Adventitial cells were stained in situ with PKH26, a fluorescent dye, after balloon angioplasty of the rat common carotid artery. Animals were killed at different time points, and tissue sections were examined under light and fluorescence microscopy. PKH26-labeled cells were detected exclusively in the adventitia. No labeled cells were present in the media or the neointima at any time point examined. A highly cellular neoadventitial layer composed of myofibroblasts exhibited an extensive proliferative response 3 days after injury over the entire adventitial circumference.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the prominent role that adventitial myofibroblasts seem to have in the postangioplasty remodeling process, they do not migrate to the medial or intimal layers in the rat carotid artery angioplasty model.
De Leon
H
H
Winship Cancer Institute, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Ollerenshaw
J D
JD
Griendling
K K
KK
Wilcox
J N
JN
D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000818:Animals; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D002465:Cell Movement; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009930:Organic Chemicals; C070080:PKH 26