Early atherosclerosis aggravates renal microvascular loss and fibrosis in swine renal artery stenosis
Dong Sun, Alfonso Eirin, Behzad Ebrahimi, Stephen C Textor, Amir Lerman, Lilach O Lerman, Dong Sun, Alfonso Eirin, Behzad Ebrahimi, Stephen C Textor, Amir Lerman, Lilach O Lerman
Abstract
Renal function in patients with atherosclerosis and renal artery stenosis (ARAS) deteriorates more frequently than in nonatherosclerotic RAS. We hypothesized that ARAS aggravates stenotic-kidney micro vascular loss compared to RAS. Domestic pigs were randomized to normal, RAS, and ARAS (RAS fed a high-cholesterol diet) groups (n = 7 each). Ten weeks later stenotic-kidney oxygenation, renal blood flow, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were evaluated in vivo, and micro vascular density by micro-computed tomography. Blood pressure in both RAS and ARAS was elevated; and stenotic-kidney renal blood flow and GFR similarly decreased. RAS decreased the density of small-size cortical microvessels (<200 μm), whereas ARAS extended the decrease to medium-sized microvessels (200-300 μm). Cortical hypoxia and interstitial fibrosis increased in both RAS and ARAS but correlated inversely with micro vascular density only in RAS. Atherosclerosis aggravates loss of stenotic-kidney microvessels, yet additional determinants likely contribute to cortical hypoxia and fibrosis in swine ARAS.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; fibrosis; micro vascular injury; renal artery stenosis.
Conflict of interest statement
Disclosure
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2016 American Society of Hypertension. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Source: PubMed