2024-08-14 10:22:26
About three to four percent of the population between 65 and 75 years of age suffer from aortic aneurysm. Currently, there is no treatment option that can stop the progression of the aneurysm, continue to stop the vessel with a stent.
Aortic aneurysm is characterized by pathological dilation in certain predictable areas of the vessel and can lead to severe aortic rupture. The areas in the arterial aneurysms are usually the most affected by these events, even in healthy people, as shown by the research conducted by the medical researchers of Bochum and Bonn (Germany) . ““We want to understand why these sites are always the most influential, especially what distinguishes them from others”pointed out Prof. Daniela Wenzel, head of the Department of Systems Physiology at the Ruhr University in Bochum.
To answer their question, they used a method to specifically examine the endothelium of the aorta: the inner layer of the blood vessel. “We know from other vascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis, that changes occur at this internal level long before symptoms appear.“, according to this researcher.
As described in the study, published in the journal ‘Angiogenesis’, using a cold labeling technique, small samples, containing only 350 individual cells, were able to isolate and examine RNA. They analyzed gene activity in different places in the aorta and compared the places where aneurysms often develop with those where this trend is not observed.
““We have identified certain patterns of genes that are overexpressed in places where tumors often grow.”Dr. Alexander Brückner explains, doctoral student in the working group of the Institute of Physiology I of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn and the first author of the study. “Incredibly active genes affect, for example, changes in the extracellular matrix, the formation of new blood vessels and some inflammatory reactions. These genetic abnormalities are also present in human aneurysm tissue” he added.
Endothelial elasticity
These experts were able to confirm that the less elastic the endothelium is, the more vulnerable it is to vascular health. Thus, they showed that the endothelium was stiffer in areas where aneurysms often grew than in control areas.
For their research the team used an established mouse model that tends to form aneurysms due to a specific genetic mutation. If high blood pressure is also caused in these mice, aortic aneurysms form. They compared gene activity in the aortic endothelium of genetically modified mice without an aneurysm with that of mice that had developed an aneurysm due to induced high blood pressure. ““In mice with aneurysm, we found a higher level of genetic changes that belong to the same species as genetic changes in healthy mice,” said Dr. Brückner. “In rats with an aneurysm, the vessel wall is also altered.”
Therefore, as the researchers summarized, “The places where aneurysms usually grow are vulnerable places to begin with. We don’t know exactly why this happened; perhaps it has to do with the mechanical conditions and blood flow in those places, or maybe the altered gene activity in those places is inherited from birth. If we add risk factors to this, such as smoking and high blood pressure, the risk of developing an arterial aneurysm increases,” ended in Prof. Wenzel. LDB (SyM)
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