부산대학교 도서관

Background The impact of L-arginine on atherogenesis and its ability to prevent endothelial dysfunction have been studied extensively during the past years. L-arginine is a substance for nitric oxide synthesis which involves in apoptosis. Hypercholesterolemia promotes endothelial dysfunction, and it is hypothesized that L-arginine prevents endothelial dysfunction through endothelial cells apoptosis inhibition. To test this hypothesis, thirty rabbits were assigned into two groups. The control group received 1% cholesterol diet for 4 weeks, and the L-arginine group received same diets plus 3% L-arginine in drinking water. Results No significant differences were observed in cholesterol level between two groups, but the nitrite concentration in L-arginine group was significantly higher than other group (control group: 11.8 [+ -] 1; L-arginine group: 14.7 [+ -] 0.5 [mu]mol/l); (p [less than] 0.05). The aorta score of fatty streak in control group was 0.875 [+ -] 0.35, but no fatty streak lesion was detected in L-arginine group (p [less than] 0.05). The number of intimal apoptotic cells/500 cells of aorta in two groups of experiment were statistically different (control group: 39.3 [+ -] 7.6; L-arginine group: 21.5 [+ -] 5.3) (p [less than] 0.05). Conclusion The inhibition of endothelial cells apoptosis by L-arginine restores endothelial function in a model of hypercholesterolemia.
Authors: Mehdi Nematbakhsh (corresponding author) [1,2]; Shaghayegh Haghjooyjavanmard [1,2]; Farzaneh Mahmoodi [2]; Ali Reza Monajemi [2] Background The concept of programmed cell death was introduced to describe cell death during [...]