Ultrastructural changes of artery after cerebral vasospasm with and without endothelin converting enzyme inhibitor

    ZHAO Zhenª²Wei1£¬ GAO Guoª²Dong1£¬ZHAO Jiª²Pei1£¬QIN Huaiª²Zhou1£¬ DENG Jianª²Ping1£¬ CHEN Ling1£¬WEI Deª²Lai2

    1Department of Neurosurgery, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University ,Xi¬ðan 710038,China,2Department of Neurosurgery,People¡¯s Hospital, Jishan County of Shanxi Province,Jishan 043200, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿AIM: To investigate the ultrastructural changes of basiliar artery under transmission electron microscope (TEM) with and without [Dª²Val22] big ETª²1(16~38), an endothelin converting enzyme inhibitor, in the cerebral vasospasm (CVS) following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). METHODS: CVS models were developed by injecting arterial blood twice through the citerna magna 48 hours apart. Thirtyª²six rabbits were equally assigned to six groups: Control group, SAH group, prevention group with citerna magna injection, prevention group with intravenous injection, treatment group with citerna magna injection and treatment group with intravenous injection group. All animals were killed using perfusionª²fixation on day 7 and the basilar arteries and some brain tissue were removed for ultrastructural studies. RESULTS: TEM displayed normal morphology of EC, its conjunction, SMC and intimal elastic lamina (IEL) in control group, while in SAH group, marked pathological changes were observed, including desquamation and dystrophy of ECs, disruption of tight junction, vacuolated cytoplasm, condensation of chromatin in ECs, corrugation of IEL, and distortion of SMC. In other groups, TEM showed slight ultrastructural changes in EC, SMC and IEL. CONCLUSION: CVS following SAH causes marked ultrastructural changes of basiliar artery and [Dª²Val22] big ETª²1(16~38)can markedly inhibit the changes. ......