Visualization of atherosclerosis: Quantitative evaluation of degree of atherosclerosis by separate measurement of endothelial function and smooth muscle function

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A non-invasive apparatus for evaluation of ultra-early diagnosis of atherosclerosis was studied in which a function of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs), respectively. Myogenic response of SMCs which called Bayliss effect are defined as healthiness of SMCs and measured. To evaluate ECs function is used a conventional FMD. The SMCs contractility of human brachial artery was measured by our novel method, i.e., an active contraction of the artery which was induced by loading chopped negative pressure. These results suggest that a time of an arterial contraction is in less time than using our conventional method, i.e., loading a stepwise application of negative pressure for 2 minutes, or an amount of contraction increased while loading chopped negative pressure. In addition, we developed an animal model to understand the Bayliss effect in detail. This study might have a potential to develop a new method for ultra-early diagnosis of atherosclerosis.