Investigation the correlation between atherosclerotic plaque stability and junctional adhesion molecule A in ApoE-/-mice / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the relationship between atherosclerotic plaque stability and junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) in atherosclerotic mice.Methods Twenty-six apolipoprotein E gene knockout(ApoE-/-) mice were divided into three groups.Group A (six mice) was control group,group B (ten mice) was disposed by ligation and high-fat diet and group C was disposed by high-fat diet with ten mice.The formation process of plaques were observed with high resolution ultrasound(22 MHz),and plaque markers were detected to evaluate palque stability for secondary grouping (group D was vulnerable plaque group and group E was stable plaque group).The plaque stability were evaluated by plaque vulnerability index and the expression of JAM-A were analyzed using immunohistochemical staining.The relationship between atherosclerotic plaque stability and JAM-A in atherosclerotic mice were estimated with statistical methods at last.Results There was no plaque in carotid artery of group A.On the contrary,obvious plaques were observed in carotid artery of group B and C.The total serum lipids level in group A was normal.But high-fat diet could obviously decrease the serum HDL-cholesterol level of group B and group C when compared with the controls(P ＜0.05).High-fat diet could increase the ratio of non-HDL-cholesterol (TC,TG,LDL).As shown with pathological staining,the content of extracellular lipids and foam cells in the plaque were significantly increased vs.control (P ＜ 0.05).On the contrary,the content of smooth muscle cells and collagen fibers were significantly increased vs.control(P ＜0.05).The plaque vulnerability index of group D was higher than that in group E(P ＜0.01).The expression of JAMA was increased in group D and E,and in group D was higher(P ＜0.01).While,few JAM-A expression in group A.There was significant correlation between plaque vulnerability index and JAM-A (P＜0.01).Conclusions High resolution uhrasound(22 MHz) can observe the formation of carotid plaque in ApoE-/-mice.There was a positive correlation between JAM-A expression and the vulnerability of plaque in carotid artery.JAM-A might be used for evaluation of plaque stability as a new indicator.