Effects of orally active beraprost on rabbit endothelial cell coverage repair and vascular stenosis in the balloon injured iliac-femoral artery

Objective To evaluate the effect of beraprost sodium,an orally active prostacyclin analogue,on rabbit endothelial cell(EC)coverage repair and vascular stenosis in the balloon injured iliac-femoral artery.Methods An iliac-femoral artery stenosis model was developed in 24 male New Zealand white rabbits by balloon injury and a high-cholesterol diet.At the time of injury, rabbits were randomly assigned to 3 groups:the sham group,the model group and the beraprost group.Rabbits were sacrificed after 14 days and the iliac-femoral arteries were removed and made into pathological sections.The morphological alteration of the artery and the area covered by EC were observed.The intemal and external elastic lamina and luminal areas were measured.Then the area of intima vs media was calculated.Results(1)The EC coverage in the beraprost group obviously increased,compared with the model group(P0.01).(2)In comparison with the model group,the internal elastic lamina,external elastic lamina and luminal areas in the beraprost group markedly increased(P0.05),the area of intima decreased(P0.05)and the ratio of intima to media notably decreased(P0.01).Conclusions Beraprost can help repair the EC of balloon injured artery in rabbits by dilating the arteries and lessening the neointimal thickness,which result in preventing stenosis in balloon injured arteries in rabbits.