Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is still the most effective method for the treatment of coronary heart disease at present. However, the restenosis of vein grafts following surgery is an important complication of CABG. In this study, Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP), which has anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative properties, was used to prevent or delay the proliferation of venous bridge endothelial cells in a rat model. We transplanted the autogenous jugular vein to the rat carotid artery, and wrapped it with BSP. We carried out experiments in 4 groups (with 24 rats in each group): a high-BSP dose group (the HBG group, 10 mg), a low-BSP dose group (the LBG group, 3 mg), a pluronic gel group (the gel group), and a control group. Vein grafts were then harvested after 3, 14, and 28 days. Following transplantation, we used color Doppler ultrasound to assess the patency of the transplanted vein. The grafted veins were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson to measure the thickness of the intima and media of the blood vessels. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-l (VCAM-1) were assessed in vein grafts by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. We detected a significant reduction in the proliferation of endothelial cells in the BSP group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). H&E and Masson's trichrome staining showed that the extent of intimal hyperplasia in transplanted veins from the high BSP group (HBS) (67.42 ± 0.54 µm) and low BSP group (LBS) (120.83 ± 1.87 µm) groups was significantly lower than that in the control group (257.03 ± 2.74 µm, P < 0.05), and that the extent of intimal hyperplasia in the HBS group was lower than that in the LBS group (P < 0.05). We found that the effect of BSP was dose-dependent, as high-dose BSP had a more significant inhibitory effect on cell proliferation than low-dose BSP (P < 0.05). The results of immunohistochemistry and western blotting showed that PCNA and VCAM-1 were significantly downregulated in the BSP treatment group on days 14 and 28 (P < 0.05). BSP inhibits the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells and reduces the expression of VCAM-1, thereby inhibiting the restenosis of graft veins.
Keywords: Bletilla striata polysaccharide; coronary artery bypass grafting; endothelial cell; restenosis.