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Updated: Nov 2, 2025
Vascular Balloon Injury and Intraluminal Administration in Rat Carotid Artery
Published on: December 23, 2014
L-Arginine reduces downstream vascular contractility after flow-diverting device deployment: A preliminary study in a
Jennifer Ayers-Ringler1, Praveen Kolumam Parameswaran2, Zenith Khashim3
1Center for Individualized Medicine, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Rochester, MN, USA.
Background:
Flow diverters (FDs) are an effective treatment for intracranial aneurysms, though not free from hemorrhagic complications. A previous study demonstrated increased vascular contractility after FD-implantation as a potential mechanism of distal complications. Our study aimed to investigate whether L-arginine medication affects vascular contractility following FD deployment in a rabbit model.
Methods:
FDs were implanted in the aorta of normal rabbits (+FD, n = 10), with sham-operated aorta as controls (n = 5). L-Arginine was given in the drinking water (2.25% L-arginine hydrochloride) of half of the +FD animals (+FD/+Arg). Force contraction vascular contractility studies were performed on the aortic rings proximal and distal to the FD using an organ bath. Total eNOS, eNOS(pS1177), eNOS(pT495), COX-2, and S100A4 were quantified by western analysis on total protein lysates from aortic segments, normalizing to GAPDH.
Results:
Mean vascular contractility was 53% higher in distal relative to proximal aortic segments (P = 0.0038) in +FD animals, but were not significantly different in +FD/+Arg animals, or in sham-operated controls. The +FD animals expressed significantly reduced levels of eNOS(pS1177) than sham-operated controls (P = 0.0335), while both the +FD and +FD/+Arg groups had reduced levels of eNOS(pT495) relative to sham-operated controls (P = 0.0331 and P = 0.0311, respectively).
Conclusion:
These results suggest that L-arginine medication reduces distal vascular contractility after FD treatment via nitric oxide production and thus might mitigate risk for downstream complications.
