The establishment of bridge conduits model for artery grafts in coronary artery bypass grafting and experimental study for adenoviral-mediated gene transfection of endothelial nitric oxide synthase

Objective The experiment was designed.to establish the animal model of bridge conduits for artery grafts in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and evaluate the efficacy of adenoviral-mediated gene transfection with endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS).Methods Forty rabbits were divided into 4 groups (n =10) randomly.Establish the bridge conduits model by end-to-end anastomosis of the femoral artery to carotid artery:(1) eNOS group,the bridge graft was transferred with adenoviral-mediated eNOS; (2) zero load group,adenoviral-mediated zero load eNOS was transferred; (3) control group,only the bridge graft without gene transfection; (4) normal femoral artery group.Gene transfection was by the way of soaking method for adenoviral-mediated eNOS gene or zero load eNOS gene for 1 h.Three weeks later,the grafts were harvested and sent for measurement such as immunohistochemisty,NO content,efficacy of eNOS in the vessel wall and immunoblotting assay (Western blotting).Results There were no deaths in the rabbits.All of the bridge vessels in different groups got adaptive changes without obstruction.In the eNOS group,the smooth muscle were found thicked and the expression of eNOS increased obviously,while the vascular wall degeneration could be found in the other groups.Also there were no obvious expression of eNOS in the vessel walls in the three groups (P ＜ 0.05).The NO content and eNOS energy in eNOS goup were (8.83 ± 1.24) μmol/g and (0.987 ± 0.239) U/mg,different remarkably with other groups (P ＜ 0.05).The Western blot also show the same results.Conclusion The model we built is reliable and the adenoviral-mediated of eNOS gene transfection is successful,which can be used to increase the content of NO or the express efficacy of eNOS gene in the vessel wall of the artery bridge. Key words: Coronary artery bypass grafting;  Bridge vessel;  Spasm;  Endothelial nitric oxide synthase;  Gene transfection