Basic fibroblast growth factor reverses atherosclerotic impairment of human coronary angiogenesis-like responses in vitro.

Abstract The influence of atherosclerosis on vascular growth in humans was evaluated in an in vitro model of angiogenesis. Coronary artery intima-media explants from patients ( n = 10) with coronary artery disease (CAD) (in all cases Stary type V lesions) and patients without CAD ( n = 10) were cultured in a collagen matrix containing serum-free medium. Endothelial cell growth from explants was organized as capillary-like microtubes (CLM); the sum of their lengths was morphometrically quantitated as an index of angiogenesis. CLM growth was suppressed in CAD explants ( n = 120), the index values at two weeks averaging only 20% ± 3% of non-CAD explants ( n = 120, P