Effects of rosiglitazone on contralateral iliac artery after vascular injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits

BACKGROUND: The objective was to evaluate the effects of rosiglitazone on iliac arteries of hypercholesterolemic rabbits undergoing balloon catheter injury in the contralateral iliac arteries. METHODS: White male rabbits were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet for 6 weeks and divided into two groups as follows: rosiglitazone group, 14 rabbits treated with rosiglitazone (3 mg/Kg body weight/day) during 6 weeks; and control group, 18 rabbits without rosiglitazone treatment. All animals underwent balloon catheter injury of the right iliac artery on the fourteenth day of the experiment. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in intima/media layer area ratio between the control group and the rosiglitazone group. Rosiglitazone did not reduce the probability of lesions types I, II, or III (72.73% vs. 92.31%; p = 0.30) and types IV or V (27.27% vs. 7.69%; p = 0.30). There were no differences in the extent of collagen type I and III deposition or in the percentage of animals with macrophages in the intima layer. The percentage of rabbits with smooth muscle cells in the intima layer was higher in rosiglitazone group (p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that rosiglitazone given for 6 weeks did not prevent atherogenesis at a vessel distant from the injury site.