Investigation of the effects of L-Arginine on ex vivo treated left internal mammary artery (LIMA) grafts

Dipçin B., Keskintaş A. T., Özgün G., Uğurlucan M., Tanoren B.

2nd International Microscopy and Spectroscopy Congress, İstanbul, Türkiye, 25 - 28 Eylül 2025, ss.102-103, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.102-103
  • Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have one of the highest mortality in adults worldwide and are more common among males. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a standard procedure performed for revascularization, saphenous vein, radial artery, and left internal mammary artery (LIMA) are used for the procedure. The most commonly used graft for CABG is LIMA thanks to its long-term patency, and increased survival from myocardial infarction. Although fibrosis and calcification of LIMA grafts are less compared to other grafts which lead to a decrease of graft patency or result in graft fail by calcification in long term. L-Arginine is a natural amino acid and the precursor of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, which is a regulator of the vascular inflammation.

AIM: To understand the effects of L-Arginine on LIMA grafts’ morphology, collagen content, elemental composition and whether it can be used to increase graft patency or not.

Materials & METHODS: In this study, LIMA grafts harvested from 18 male patients were treated “ex vivo” with either TNF-α or TNF-α & L-Arginine before cryosectioning. The cryosectioned tissue grafts were stained with hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) and Masson’s Trichrome dyes and/or kits and were imaged with a brightfield microscope to observe the effects of the treatments on the grafts’ morphology and collagen composition, respectively. The effects of the treatments on tissue morphology, and elemental composition were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging, and Elemental Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, respectively.

RESULTS: Results suggested the potential of L-Arginine for improving the LIMA graft patency since it improved graft morphology to be more organized, increased collagen deposition, decreased calcification and fibrosis regardless of the patient age.

CONCLUSION: This study overall suggested the potential usage of L-Arginine for improving the LIMA graft.

Keywords: Coronary artery bypass grafting, Graft patency, L-Arginine