Prince M R, LaMuraglia G M, MacNichol E F
Wellman Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02114.
Circulation. 1988 Aug;78(2):338-44. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.78.2.338.
Patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy were pretreated with low-dose, oral beta carotene to determine whether the carotenoid content of plaque could be increased in vivo. Beta carotene-treated patients had a 50-fold increase in their plaque beta carotene level from 0.066 to 3.3 micrograms beta carotene/g plaque. Microscopy and microspectrophotometry demonstrated that plaque from beta carotene-treated patients had higher carotenoid levels and higher absorption (450-500 nm) compared with control specimens, but normal media was unaffected. This demonstration of increased preferential absorption by plaque suggests that selective ablation of atherosclerotic plaque may be enhanced by pretreating patients with oral beta carotene.
接受颈动脉内膜切除术的患者接受低剂量口服β-胡萝卜素预处理，以确定体内斑块的类胡萝卜素含量是否可以增加。接受β-胡萝卜素治疗的患者斑块β-胡萝卜素水平从0.066微克β-胡萝卜素/克斑块增加到3.3微克β-胡萝卜素/克斑块，增加了50倍。显微镜检查和显微分光光度法表明，与对照标本相比，接受β-胡萝卜素治疗患者的斑块具有更高的类胡萝卜素水平和更高的吸收（450 - 500纳米），但正常介质未受影响。斑块优先吸收增加的这一证明表明，口服β-胡萝卜素预处理患者可能会增强动脉粥样硬化斑块的选择性消融。
