Monocyte Migration Induced by Extracts of Aorta: Comparison between Normal Subjects and Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

Studies in animal models suggest that monocyte accumulation in the arterial intima is an important early event in the initiation of atherosclerosis. It has been reported that chemotactic factors for monocytes can be extracted from vessels of cholesterol fed animals. The present study indicated that extracts from intima and media of normal portion of human thoracic aorta induced monocytes chemotaxis. Checker board analysis showed that the activity was due to chemotaxis and not to chemokinesis. We investigated the chemotactic activity of aortic extracts for monocytes from normal subjects and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). The data indicated that chemotactic index (C. I.) in FH was 2-3 times greater than that in normal subjects.
These findings indicated that there were monocyte-chemotactic factors in the intima and media of normal aorta and that control of monocyte recruitment into artery would involve not only alteration of the arterial wall but also functional changes in the circulating monocytes.