Experimental study on intra-arterial infusion of basic fibroblast growth factor in the ischemic limbs of rabbit model

Objective: To evaluate the effect of intra-arterial infusion of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on improving neovascularization, vascular perfusion and the function of partially ischemic limbs of rabbits. Methods: Twenty-seven New Zealand male rabbits were selected. Partial ischemia model was induced by surgical ligation of the primary branches of right femoral artery in each animal, and the left hind limb of each animal was served as a nonischemic control. Then, 27 rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups: intra-arterial (IA) infusion of bFGF (n=9), intravenous (IV) infusion of bFGF and IA infusion of saline (n=9). Infusion was separately performed immediately after vascular ligation, 8th and 15th days post-surgery with 10 μg (4 ml) of bFGF per-time (or the same volume of saline). The differences between three groups and between ischemic and nonischemic limbs of the same group were compared and evaluated by the following indexes: (1) vessel section count (VSC), vessel section surface area (VSS) and vessel section perimeter (VSP) in the field of ischemic muscle tissues taken at 22nd day postoperatively; (2) capillary refilling time of ischemic limbs; and (3) functional and trophic changes of ischemic limbs. Statistical differences were evaluated by one-way ANOVA and T test. Results: VSC, VSS and VSP of the IA-bFGF group were significantly increased than those of the IV-bFGF and IA-saline groups (P<0.01). At 22nd day postoperatively, the capillary refilling time, new hair growth, the appearance and function of all ischemic limbs in IA-bFGF group were approximately normal. However, in IA-saline group, the ischemic changes, capillary refilling time and the function of ischemic limbs were not improved significantly. All the indexes of IV-bFGF group showed no difference statistically from those of IA-saline group. Conclusions: This experimental study identifies that intra-arterial infusion of bFGF may significantly promote neovascularization and vascular perfusion in ischemic limbs, suggesting that a better effect may be obtained with IA-infusion bFGF than that of IV-infusion bFGF. (authors)