[Plasma fibronectin level in patients with moyamoya disease]

Moyamoya disease is generally considered as a slowly progressive occlusive disease of the circle of Willis. Pathological investigation has revealed that the occlusion develops due to fibrocellular thickening of the intima. In spite of various studies, however, the etiology of this disease and the mechanism of the intimal thickening remain unknown. Fibronectin (FN) is a high molecular weight glycoprotein which is found in an insoluble form in many tissues and in a soluble form in plasma and other body fluids. FNs have many biological activities and play an important role in the formation of connective tissue under physiological and pathological conditions. In the present study we have determined the plasma FN levels in order to investigate the relationship between FN and moyamoya disease. The subjects were 39 patients with moyamoya disease who were in the chronic stage after reconstructive surgery, 39 age- and sex-matched normal healthy controls, and 39 patients with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease in the chronic stage. The plasma FN levels were measured by the single radial immunodiffusion method using venous blood samples. The plasma FN level in healthy subjects was 33.9 +/- 6.3 mg/dl (mean +/- standard deviation) which almost agreed with the level, 30-35 mg/dl, reported by some investigators. In the patients with moyamoya disease the level was 42.5 +/- 7.9 mg/dl, showing a significant increase (p less than 0.001) compared with the healthy subjects. Then the subjects were classified into a child group (15 years or younger) and an adult group (16 years or older) and their levels were examined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)