Abstract
Objectives: To assess the effects of intermittent limb compression on arterial collateral formation in a rabbit-model. Design: Animal study. Material and methods: New Zealand rabbits (n = 11), aged 2-years, weight of at least 4.0 kg, underwent bilateral superficial femoral artery ligation. In ten of these, the experimental leg underwent 60 minutes of daily intermittent compression for a ten week period with 3 sec/90 mmHg pressure inflation and a cycle of 3 times per minute. The contra-lateral limbs were not treated. At the end of the ten-week period, high-resolution angiograms were obtained by barium infusion into the aorta. The angiograms were analyzed in a blinded manner and the number of collateral arteries larger than 100 microns, was counted. Following perfusion-fixation, histological specimens of transverse sections of the compressed semi-membranous muscle were examined. Results: The compressed limbs demonstrated a significantly (8.1 ± .87 vs 6.0 ± .97; p < 0.005) greater number of collateral vessels, ranging in size from 100-700 microns, as compared to the control sides. The mean size of collaterals in the compressed limbs was not significantly different (0.33 ± 0.17 vs 0.31 ± 0.16). Microscopic examination of the collaterals confirmed remodeling by a typical neo-intima consisting of 6-7 cell-layers. Conclusions: Intermittent limb compression increases the number of angiographical collateral arteries.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 340-346 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2007 |
Keywords
- Animal models of human disease
- Arteriogenesis
- Arteriography
- Collaterals
- Intermittent Compression
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Rabbit-model
- Remodeling
