Brief Article
Copyright ©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Nov 26, 2013; 5(11): 426-433
Published online Nov 26, 2013. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v5.i11.426
Positive influence of aspirin on coronary endothelial function: Importance of the dose
Hiroki Teragawa, Naoya Mitsuba, Ken Ishibashi, Satoshi Kurisu, Yasuki Kihara
Hiroki Teragawa, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hiroshima General Hospital of West Japan Railway Company, Hiroshima 732-0057, Japan
Naoya Mitsuba, Ken Ishibashi, Satoshi Kurisu, Yasuki Kihara, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan
Author contributions: Teragawa H designed the study, collected data, and wrote the manuscript; Mitsuba N and Ishibashi K collected data; Kurisu S evaluated the study data; Kihara Y revised the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Hiroki Teragawa, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hiroshima General Hospital of West Japan Railway Company, 3-1-36 Futabanosato, Higashi-ku, Hiroshima 732-0057, Japan. hiroteraga71@gmail.com
Telephone: +81-82-2621171 Fax: +81-82-2621499
Received: July 30, 2013
Revised: September 29, 2013
Accepted: October 16, 2013
Published online: November 26, 2013
Processing time: 126 Days and 3.2 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the effects of different doses of aspirin on coronary endothelial function.

METHODS: The study included 139 Japanese subjects (mean age, 60 years; 53 women) with angiographically normal coronary arteries. Patients were distributed into Group I (n = 63), who was administered aspirin and Group II (n = 76), the control, who were not administered aspirin. Group I was further divided into Group Ia (n = 50, low-dose aspirin, 100 mg) and Group Ib (n = 13, high-dose aspirin, 500 mg). After a routine coronary angiography, acetylcholine (ACh; 3 and 30 μg/min successively) and nitroglycerin (NTG) were infused into the left coronary ostium over 2 min. The change in the diameter of the coronary artery in response to each drug was expressed as the percentage change from baseline values.

RESULTS: The patient characteristics did not differ between the two groups. The change in coronary diameter in response to ACh was greater in Group I than in Group II (P = 0.0043), although the NTG-induced coronary vasodilation was similar between groups. ACh-induced dilation was greater in Group Ia than in Group Ib (P = 0.0231). Multivariate regression analysis showed that a low-dose of aspirin (P = 0.0004) was one of the factors associated with ACh-induced dilation at 30 μg/min.

CONCLUSION: In subjects with angiographically normal coronary arteries, aspirin only had a positive influence on coronary endothelial function at the low dose of 100 mg. This improvement of coronary endothelial function may be involved in the preventive effect of aspirin against future coronary events.

Keywords: Acetylcholine; Aspirin; Coronary endothelial function; Quantitative coronary angiography

Core tip: We investigated the effect of aspirin on coronary endothelial function. Patients were distributed into Group I, who were administered aspirin and Group II, which was the control group. Group I was divided into Group Ia (low-dose aspirin) and Group Ib (high-dose aspirin). Acetylcholine (ACh)-induced coronary dilation was greater in Group I than in Group II and was greater in Group Ia than in Group Ib. Multivariate regression analysis showed that a low-dose of aspirin was associated with ACh-induced coronary dilation. A Low dose of aspirin has a positive influence on coronary endothelial function.