ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of perivascular collar application, a model that induces intimal thickening seen in early atherosclerosis, on systemic hemodynamic parameters of rabbits. Rabbits were divided into two groups. In the first group, on the 1st day of the experiment (collared group, n=10), a soft silicone collar was implanted around the left carotid artery. The second group (perivascular manipulation group, n=10), served as control, was subjected only to perivascular manipulation on their left carotid artery without implanting the collar. Hemodynamic parameters of the rabbits were measured for half an hour on the first day and the final day (day 15) before the surgical operation. Statistical analysis was carried out by Wilcoxon signed rank test. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. This study has shown that neither collar implantation nor the perivascular manipulation affected the systemic hemodynamic parameters. In the collared group, positioning of the collar around the carotid artery resulted in an increase in intimal cross sectional area as compared to the normal arteries (0.091±0.015 mm vs 0.009±0.000 mm2, respectively, p=0.000, n=10). However, perivascular manipulation did not alter intimal cross sectional area (normal 0.009±0.001 mm2, manipulation 0.008± 0.001 mm2, p=0.172, n=7). In this model, a significant relationship between collarinduced intimal thickening and systemic hemodynamic parameters has not been found. Systemic hemodynamic parameters may not account for intimal thickening in this model.