Porcine coronary artery organ culture: A model for the study of angioplasty injury.
The pathogenesis of coronary artery restenosis following angioplasty is not well understood. In order to carry out studies on the pathogenesis of restenosis, we developed and characterized an organ culture system using the porcine epicardial left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries. In nonangioplasty cultures at two weeks there was neointimal formation with intimal smooth muscle cells present within a loose matrix. All the neointimal cells beneath the endothelium stained positive for smooth muscle cell actin with α-SM1 antibody. Smooth muscle cell proliferation was maximum between four and eight days. Angioplasty, carried out by local balloon inflation at the onset of culture, resulted in an augmentation of the neointimal thickness and a further increase in smooth muscle cell proliferation. Endothelial cells, however, were absent from the angioplasty site, having been damaged and lost at the time of angioplasty. Because there is a response to angioplasty in this organ culture model, it will be a useful way of studying many of the factors likely to be important in the regulation of restenosis following angioplasty.