Naito M, Yasue M, Asai K, Yamada K, Hayashi T, Kuzuya M, Funaki C, Yoshimine N, Kuzuya F
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 1992 Jun;38(3):255-64. doi: 10.3177/jnsv.38.255.
We studied the effects of a synthetic adrenocortical steroid, dexamethasone, on the development of experimental atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits. Daily intramuscular injection of dexamethasone (0.125 mg/day) remarkably inhibited the aortic atherosclerosis induced by feeding a 1% cholesterol-rich diet for 8 weeks, although it aggravated diet-induced hyperlipidemia. Histologically, less foam cell accumulation was observed in the atherosclerotic lesions of the dexamethasone-treated rabbits as compared with the control animals. When rabbits were fed a normal chow diet for 10 weeks after receiving the 1% cholesterol-rich diet for 8 weeks, no regression of atherosclerotic lesions was observed with the daily injection of dexamethasone (0.125 mg/day); however, the drug again tended to inhibit further progression of atherosclerosis. The anti-atherogenic mechanism of dexamethasone may involve an inhibition of recruitment of blood monocytes and the insudation of atherogenic lipoproteins, mainly beta-very low density lipoprotein (beta-VLDL) in the present experiments, into the aortic intima, or it may involve a change in the size and structure of the lipoproteins, resulting in their decreased passage through the aortic endothelium into the intima.
我们研究了合成肾上腺皮质类固醇地塞米松对喂饲胆固醇的家兔实验性动脉粥样硬化发展的影响。每天肌肉注射地塞米松（0.125毫克/天）可显著抑制喂饲1%富含胆固醇的饮食8周所诱导的主动脉粥样硬化，尽管它加剧了饮食诱导的高脂血症。组织学上，与对照动物相比，在地塞米松治疗的家兔的动脉粥样硬化病变中观察到较少的泡沫细胞积聚。当家兔在接受8周1%富含胆固醇的饮食后再喂饲10周正常饲料时，每天注射地塞米松（0.125毫克/天）未观察到动脉粥样硬化病变的消退；然而，该药物再次倾向于抑制动脉粥样硬化的进一步发展。地塞米松的抗动脉粥样硬化机制可能涉及抑制血液单核细胞的募集以及致动脉粥样硬化脂蛋白（在本实验中主要是β-极低密度脂蛋白，β-VLDL）渗入主动脉内膜，或者可能涉及脂蛋白大小和结构的改变，导致其通过主动脉内皮进入内膜的能力降低。
