Objective To investigate the effect of Caveolin-1 on extracellular regulated protein kinases of rabbit carotid artery anastomotic restenosis.Methods 40 New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into normal control group,carotid artery end to end anastomosis surgical group,empty vector transfection on the site of anastomosis group and Caveolin-1 transfected group.Left carotid artery endto-end anastomosis was performed,and the mixture of Caveolin-1 plasmid and liposome lipofectin 2000 (transfected group) or empty plasmid and lipofectin 2000 mixture (empty vector group) were transfected on anastomosis.Specimens were taken at 7 d after surgery for Western blot and RT-PCR to detect the expression of protein and mRNA.Specimens were taken for HE staining at 28 d to observe the proliferation of intima,and measured the ratio of intima/media area by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software.Results Compared with surgical group,the ratio of intima/media area in Caveolin-1 transfected group decreased by about 50％.Compared with surgical group and empty vector group,the Caveolin-1 mRNA expression and protein activity significantly increased (t =36.59,P ＜ 0.01) ; the ERK1/2 mRNA expression and protein activity significantly decreased on rabbit carotid artery anastomotic site in Caveolin-1 transfected group (t =32.64and 7.27,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Caveolin-1 inhibits anastomotic restenosis possibly by regulating the activation of ERK.

Objective To investigate the effect of caveolin-1 on rabbit carotid artery anastomotic stenosis and its relationship with TNF-α.Methods 40 New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into normal group,surgical group,empty vector group and caveolin-1 transfecting group.Carotid artery end-to-end anastomosis was done in the rabbits except these in normal group.Five specimens were randomly taken on day 7 after surgery for Westem blot to detect the expression of caveolin-1 and TNF-α; The rest specimens were taken for HE staining at fourth week.The ratio of intima/media area were measured by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software in order to observe the proliferation of intima.Results Compared with normal group,in surgical group intimal proliferation was significant,the intima/media ratio was significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05) ; Compared with surgical group,in caveolin-1 transfected group neointimal proliferation was not obvious,the intima/media ratio decreased (P ＜ 0.05).Western blot showed that:compared with the surgical group,caveolin-1 expression in transfected group was significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05) ; compared with normal group,the TNF-α expression in surgical group increased (t:41.28,P ＜ 0.05) ; Compared with surgical group,TNF-α expression in transfected group decreased significantly (t:36.37,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Caveolin-1 inhibits vascular anastomotic stenosis,possibly by down-regulating TNF-α expression.