ISSN : 1301-5680
e-ISSN : 2149-8156
Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery     
The association between the development of renal artery atherosclerosis and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in rats
Nursel Şahin1, Ömer Özbudak2, Hanife Karakaya Kabukçu1, Rabin Saba3, Cengiz Türkay4, Bahar Akkaya5, Mehmet Kabukçu6, Tülin Aydoğdu Titiz1
1Departments of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
2Departments of Chest Diseases, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
3Departments of Infection and Clinical Microbiology, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
4Departments of Cardiovascular Surgery, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
5Departments of Pathology, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
6Departments of Cardiology, Medicine Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya
Background: In this study we investigated the role of chronic lung infections induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in a rat model in the development of renal artery atherosclerosis.

Methods: Sixty-six Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into four groups each consisting of 14 to 20 rats. The rats in group 1 (n=20) and group 3 (n=16) were fed with a 1% cholesterol supplemented diet, whereas the rats in group 2 (n=14) and group 4 (Control group) were fed with regular rat chow. Rats' tracheas were surgically explored under anesthesia. Intratracheal inoculation was performed with P. aeruginosa suspension in group 1 and 2 or 0.1 ml saline in groups 3 and 4 via a syringe five times with four-week-intervals during the study period. Cholesterol levels were measured in blood samples collected from the tail under anesthesia.

Results: In histopathological examinations; the segment with greatest luminal narrowing was selected by visual inspection and 8-10 slides prepared from each segment were examined under Olympus CH 40 microscope. Medial and the neointimal areas of the specimens were analyzed by computed image analysis.

Conclusion: The rats in the control group exhibited mainly normal renal artery wall structure on cross sections. The rats that were infected and fed with 1% cholesterol diet developed typical preatherosclerotic changes in the renal arteries. In this study, it was demonstrated for the first time that both chronic lung infection with P. aeruginosa and high cholesterol f eeding a ccelerated the increases of the renal artery intima-media thickness in a rat model. These findings strongly suggest that the distant effects of chronic infection are an etiological factor in genesis of atherosclerosis.

Keywords : Atherosclerosis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; rat; renal artery
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