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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;132:925-932
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Cardiopulmonary Support and Physiology

Pharmacologic relaxation of vein grafts is beneficial compared with pressure distention caused by upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide production

^a James Hogg iCAPTURE Center for the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
^b Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Received for publication February 6, 2006; revisions received March 30, 2006; accepted for publication April 24, 2006.

^_* Address for reprints: Ada W. Y. Chung, PhD, Room 2099, Cardiovascular Sciences, 950 28th W Ave, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4H4, Canada. (Email: achung{at}mrl.ubc.ca).

Objective: Pressure distention of veins during preparation for bypass surgery is believed to impair vascular integrity and reduce graft patency. We previously suggested a combination of pharmacologic vasodilatators as an alternative to distention. Vascular homeostasis is largely regulated by nitric oxide. We investigated the role of distention in comparison with pharmacologic vasorelaxation in the regulation of nitric oxide synthases, nitric oxide bioavailability, and vascular reactivity in vein grafts.

Methods: In a porcine model the internal jugular vein from either side received pressure distention or the combination of vasodilators (-adrenergic antagonist, phenoxybenzamine, 10 µmol/L; Rho-kinase inhibitor, HA-1077 [fasudil], 50 µmol/L; calcium blocker, nicardipine, 1 µmol/L) and then was grafted into the carotid artery. Regulation of nitric oxide synthase, as well as nitrate and nitrite levels, were examined in vein grafts after 2 weeks of implantation.

Results: Distention of jugular veins resulted in reduction of vasoconstriction in response to depolarization and agonist stimulation. Arterial grafting doubled inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in both grafts but caused a pronounced upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase protein (by 57.3% ± 5%) only in drug-treated grafts, whereas in distended grafts the endothelial nitric oxide synthase level was decreased by 27.5% ± 2.7%. The downregulated endothelial nitric oxide synthase level in the distended grafts was accompanied by a 45.2% ± 3.1% reduction of phospho–endothelial nitric oxide synthase Ser¹¹⁷⁷ levels and by a significant reduction in nitric oxide synthase activity (12.1% ± 1.2%) and nitrate production (48.9% ± 5.6%) in comparison with that seen in drug-treated grafts.

Conclusions: Pharmacologic preparation of the vein grafts results in upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and increased nitric oxide production in the vein grafts after arterial implantation. This might provide greater clinical benefit than conventional pressure-distention methods.