Production of Transforming Growth Factor lB during Repair of Arterial Injury

Abstract

Repair of arterial injury produced by balloon angioplasty leads to the formation of a neointima and a narrowing of the vascular lumen. In this study, we examined the possibility that smooth muscle cells (SMC) in injured rat carotid arteries are stimulated to produce type-i transforming growth factor-, # (TGF-,61) during neointima formation in vivo. Levels of TGF-#l1 transcripts (2.4 kb) were significantly increased within 6 h after carotid injury and reached a maximum (five to sevenfold) by 24 h. Regenerating left carotids had sustained increases i