Endothelium-Dependent and Endothelium-Independent Cerebral Vessel Reactions in a Chronic Smoking Model

BASIC RESEARCH
Vera A. Nevzorova, PhD, ScD¹*, Natalia V. Zakharchuk, PhD¹, Tatiana R. Belushkina¹, Irina G. Agafonova, PhD², Evgeniy A. Gilifanov, PhD¹

¹Vladivostok State Medical University, Vladivostok, Russian Federation

²Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russian Federation

*Corresponding author: Prof. Vera A. Nevzorova, PhD, ScD, Vice Rector of Vladivostok State Medical University, 2, Ostryakov str., 690002, Vladivostok, Russian Federation. Tel.: 7- 4232-45-1702, Fax: 7-4232-45-1719. E-mail: nevzorova@inbox.ru

Abstract: 

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent reactions of the cerebral arteries in prolonged tobacco smoking settings reproduced in rat models in vivo.

Materials and Methods: To simulate the brain vascular pathology in smoking scenarios an experimental model of chronic smoking in rats has been reproduced in vivo. In this study, ten, 8-week-old Wistar male rats, weighing 310 to 350 g were used in the research. They were divided randomly into two groups. One group of four rats considered the control group, was exposed to breathing clean air, while the other group of six rats, termed the experimental group, was exposed to breathing cigarette smoke. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was then performed to assess the level of change in the diameter of the cerebral arteries after the pharmacological stimuli were ascertained.

Conclusions: Prolonged cigarette smoking in rats results in the development of endothelial dysfunction in the cerebral vessels that is characterized by an impaired endothelial vasomotor level as a clear predominance of the abnormal constrictor responses. Two months post smoking cessation the vasomotor disturbances of the vascular endothelium of the rats were found to not only be preserved but also exacerbated by an increase in pathological vasoconstriction.

Keywords: 
rats, cerebral vessel, chronic smoking.
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Int J Biomed. 2011; 1(2):103-107.© 2011 International Medical Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved.