Changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction

AIM and METHODS: To study the changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and its significance. Eighty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. MI was produced by left coronary arterial ligation in 80 animals, and eight rats undergoing thoracotomy but not coronary ligation served as controls (sham).Blood samples were drawn from the right atrium before (sham animals) and 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 hours and 2, 3, 5, 7, 14 days after MI(n=8, respectively). Serum VEGF concentrations were measured by a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a rabbit polyclonal antibody specific for VEGF. RESULTS: In 8 sham animals, the concentration of serum VEGF was (66.99±17.83) pg/mL. Six hours after MI, the level of serum VEGF significantly increased to (125.68±28.07)pg/mL (P＜0.01 vs sham control), and reached a peak (240.61±70.63 pg/mL, P＜0.01 vs sham control) at 24 hours after ligation and then decreased gradually over the remaining 2 weeks. But the level remained significantly elevated for 14 days (107.64±30.31 pg/mL, P＜0.01 vs sham control).CONCLUSION: Serum VEGF levels markedly and permanently increase in the rat model of acute MI may play an important role in the angiogenesis associated with MI