Effects of pUDKH administration locally on arteries and muscles in dogs with hindlimb ischemia

    HA Xiaoª²Qin1, ZHAO Zhiª²Hua1, L¦a Tongª²De1, LI Yuanª²Min2, REN Jianª²Ping2, WU Zuª²Ze2

    1Experimental Center of Medicine, Lanzhou General Hospital, Lanzhou Military Area Command, Lanzhou 730050, China

    2Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To observe the effects of pUDKH administration locally on blood vessels and muscles in dogs with hindlimb ischemia. METHODS: Dogs were anesthetized with an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg). Then the left external iliac artery as well as all of the above arteries were ligated completely with silk thread. Thus the completely ischemic hindlimb model was established. The dogs with completely ischemic hindlimb were randomly divided into 2 groups: control group (control vector pUDK) and HGFª² transferred group (pUDKH), 4-6 dogs each. Then pUDKH or pUDK was injected directly into the left ischemic limb muscles. Three months (90 d) after injection, left external iliac arteriography was performed, blood flow rate of the left femoral artery was quantified and the temperature of distal muscle in hindlimb was measured. At the same time,the left femoral artery and femoral around muscles at the sites of injection of pUDKH and pUDK plasmids were removed and stained with HE to observe their histopathological changes by light microscopic examination. RESULTS: The degree of augmentation of collateral vessel formation was significantly greater than that treated by control vector in hindlimb ischemia models. In addition, the blood flow rate of femoral artery in dogs treated with pUDKH was recovered on day 90, while the flow rate was only 1/5 to 1/3 in control dogs. Degeneration and breakage of muscle fibers and edema among muscle bundles were observed in ischemic limb of control dogs, but in ischemic hindlimb transfected with pUDKH, no significant pathological changes were found. For control dogs, collapse of the left femoral artery, thickening of vessel wall and stenosis even occlusion of small blood vessel among muscle bundles were observed, few new blood vessels were found. But in pUDKH dogs, above all were almost normal. CONCLUSION: pUDKH has a protective effect on blood vessels and muscles in dogs with hindlimb ischemia. ......