Role Of Inflammation On Stability Of Atherosclerotic Plaque And Effects Of Panax Notoginseng Saponins In Rabbits

Background and Objective:Atherosclerotic cardio-cerbral vascular diseases are still the most severe hazard to people's health and life. Effective drugs improving the stability of atherosclerotic plaque were deficiency. Accumulating evidence supports a central role for inflammation in preclinical atherosclerosis invading mononuclear cells release enzymes (eg, matrix metalloproteinases [MMPs]) that degrade collagen and elastin, thereby allowing cells to invade by disrupting matrix layers that otherwise stabilize developing plaque. Clot forming and inflammatory pathways then work in tandem to accelerate local macrophage and T-cell activation, which contributes to plaque erosion or rupture. But until now, the prospective studies about the relation between inflammatory factors and the stability of atherosclerotic plaque were unclear. So, inflammatory AS model was established to observe the change of the stability of atherosclerotic plaque between inflammatory AS model and AS model, and the effects of total saponins of Panax Notoginseng on the stability of atheosclerotic plaque were studied as well.Methods:Rabbit atherosclerotic models were set up by hypercholestermia diet for twelve weeks. Then the AS rabbits were divided into six groups randomly (n=8): control group; PNS groups (administrated ig with PNS 15, 45, 120mg/kg, sid, respectively); Aspirin group (Aspirin 12 mg/kg, ig, sid ); Losartan group(losartan 25mg/kg, ig, sid). All the rabbits were fed with common forage from 13th week to the end point of the experiment. Another 32 rabbits were injected intraperitoneally with zymosan A(10mg/kg, Om.bid) from 13th week to the end point of the experiment and devided into four groups eg, inflammatory group, PNS group (45mg/kg), Aspirin group and Losartan group. Feeding with common forge from the first week to the end point of the experiment, the rabbits in the normal group were injected intraperitoneally with normal saline(4ml/kg) and administrated intragastricly with normal saline(5ml/kg) from 13th to the end point of the experiment week. TNF-αand IL-6 level in plaques and serum were determined with immunohistochemical and ELISA method,...