Distributions of DiI-LDL wall concentration and uptake in rabbit aorta

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that the helical or swirling flow in the human aorta may be beneficial to suppress LDL infiltration into the arterial wall, hence sparing the ascending aorta from atherosclerosis, we carried out anin vivo experimental study using the rabbit aorta as our model and analyzed the distribution of DiI-LDL wall concentration and uptake by the aorta. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the endothelium was typical undee appearance in the ascending aorta and aortic arch. It was found that the luminal surface LDL absorption concentration (cwa) in the aorta was about 1-16% higher than the bulk LDL concentration (c0). It was also found that the DiI-LDL uptake was the lowest at the entrance of the ascending aorta and the highest at the outlet of descending aorta for 24 h circulation. More interestingly, both the DiI-LDL wall concentration and uptake were obviously higher along the inner wall than that along the outer wall except for in the entry area of the front part of the ascending aorta. The data supply new evidence on that the ascending aorta and the arch are relatively free of atherosclerosis. © 2010 International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.