Effects of Fenofibrate on the Endothelium-Dependent Relaxation Function and Serum Nitric Oxide in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

[Objective]To study the changes in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation function and serum nitric oxide (NO) in patients with coronary heart disease(CHD) and the effects of fenofibrate on them . [Methods]With high-resolution ultrasound technique, flow-induced dilatation of the brachial artery was measured in CHD patients before and after the treatment with micronised fenofibrate for 8 weeks. Serum nitric oxide (NO) was also determined. [Results ]①In patients with CHD, flow-induced vasodilatation was much reduced compared with that in the control subjects (P0.01) .②Serum NO in patients with CHD was also significantly lower than that in the control subjects (P0.01) .③After micronised fenofibrate therapy , flow-induced vasodilatation was improved[(8.09±4.30)% vs(2.51±1.30)%,P0.01], and NO increased significantly[(66.43±17.87)μmol/L vs (49.12±17.81)μmol/L,P0.01].④Correlation analysis showed that endothelium-dependent vasodilatation function was positively correlated with serum NO (r= 0.741,P0.001) in patients with CHD. [Conclusions] The data here indicate that in patients with CHD, endothelium vasodilatation is impaired and serum NO decreases significantly. Fenofibrate has beneficial effects on improving the impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and increasing serum NO , and this may be one of mechanisms for the beneficial effects of fenofibrate in prevention and treatment of CAD.