Effects of Iliac Stenosis on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation in Mice and Humans

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Gurneet S Sangha - , Purdue University (Author)
  • Albert Busch - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • Andrea Acuna - , Purdue University (Author)
  • Alycia G Berman - , Purdue University (Author)
  • Evan H Phillips - , Purdue University (Author)
  • Matthias Trenner - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • Hans-Henning Eckstein - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • Lars Maegdefessel - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • Craig J Goergen - , Purdue University (Author)

Abstract

Reduced lower-limb blood flow has been shown to lead to asymmetrical abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) but the mechanism of action is not fully understood. Therefore, small animal ultrasound (Vevo2100, FUJIFILM VisualSonics) was used to longitudinally study mice that underwent standard porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) infusion (n = 5), and PPE infusion with modified 20% iliac artery stenosis in the left (n = 4) and right (n = 5) iliac arteries. Human AAA computed tomography images were obtained from patients with normal (n = 9) or stenosed left (n = 2), right (n = 1), and bilateral (n = 1) iliac arteries. We observed rapid early growth and rightward expansion (8/9 mice) in the modified PPE groups (p < 0.05), leading to slightly larger and asymmetric AAAs compared to the standard PPE group. Further examination showed a significant increase in TGFβ1 (p < 0.05) and cellular infiltration (p < 0.05) in the modified PPE group versus standard PPE mice. Congruent, yet variable, observations were made in human AAA patients with reduced iliac outflow compared to those with normal iliac outflow. Our results suggest that arterial stenosis at the time of aneurysm induction leads to faster AAA growth with aneurysm asymmetry and increased vascular inflammation after 8 weeks, indicating that moderate iliac stenosis may have upstream effects on AAA progression.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)217-229
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of vascular research
Volume56
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC6819217
Scopus 85068594036

Keywords

Keywords

  • Animals, Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal/diagnostic imaging, Arterial Occlusive Diseases/complications, Blood Flow Velocity, Case-Control Studies, Constriction, Pathologic, Disease Models, Animal, Disease Progression, Humans, Iliac Artery/diagnostic imaging, Interleukin-6/metabolism, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Pancreatic Elastase, Regional Blood Flow, Risk Factors, Time Factors, Transforming Growth Factor beta1/metabolism, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/metabolism