Abstract 12000: Altered Vascular Elasticity Reflected Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction and Elevated Galectin-3 Using Novel Brachial Artery Vascular Volume Elastic Modulus With Automated Oscillometric Approach

Abstract

Introduction: Simple vascular function measurements are desirable for atherosclerosis risk assessments. Recently, we developed a novel modality of automated oscillometric method to measure a brachial artery’s vascular elastic modulus (V E ) and reported that V E is uninfluenced by blood pressure. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) expressed in endothelial cells regulates vascular fibrosis and is a molecular determinant of vascular stiffness. Hypothesis: We aimed to clarify whether V E selectively correlates with marker of vascular stiffness in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: 12 moderate-to-severe CKD pts (mean eGFR 25.9±23.5 mL/min/1.73m 2 ) and 15 controls were studied. Rest V E in brachial artery was measured by new automated oscillometric detector. V E was defined as follows [VE =ΔPressure/ (100XΔarea/Area) mmHg/%]. Using ultrasound, the brachial artery diameter at rest and during reactive hyperemia [flow mediated dilatation (FMD) with endothelial-dependent dilatation] was measured. Gal-3 and interleukin-6 (IL-6), a representative inflammatory marker, were measured by enzyme-linked immune assay. Results: CKD had lower FMD (4.86±3.37 vs 9.05±2.98 %, P=0.003) and had attenuated V E than control (1.08±0.26 vs 0.83±0.17 mmHg/%, P=0.002). CKD had higher IL-6 (0.67±0.29 vs 0.29±0.33 pg/mL, P=0.003) and higher Gal-3 (20.0±12.4 vs. 5.84±2.83 pg/mL, P<0.001). V E was negatively correlated with %FMD (r=-0.46, P=0.015) and correlated with Gal-3 (r=0.40, P=0.036) but not in IL-6 (r=0.21, P=0.28). Conclusions: Attenuated vascular elasticity detected by this novel approach closely correlated with increase in Gal-3 and reduced FMD in CKD. This may indicate that the attenuated vascular elasticity selectively reflects vascular fibrosis as evidenced by Gal-3 and subsequent endothelial responses to vascular stiffness. Thus, this oscillometric measurement may be useful for detecting vascular fibrosis information and dysfunction in endothelium level.