Abstract:Aim To detect the expression of CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) in collateral vessels induced by high fluid shear stress in rabbit hindlimb and its relationship with monocyte and macrophage.Methods Ten rabbits were operated on left femoral artery ligation, on the right side, the femoral artery was ligated unilaterally and its distal end was anastomosed with femoral vein. After 7 days, the animals were sacrificed. The expression of CCR2, MCP-1 and CD11b was detected by corfocal immunofluorescence. Forelimb vessel was used as normal controls.Results In normal arteries, the expressions of CCR2 and MCP-1 were very weak and only presented in tunica media and adventitia, CD11b was low in the adventitia. In only ligated-side collateral vessels, the expressions of CCR2 and MCP-1 were increased in all layers of vessel wall, and the expression of CD11b in adventitia was increased. In ligation plus anastomosed, the expressions of CCR2, MCP-1 and CD11b were significantly up-regulated (P<0.05).Conclusions The expression of CCR2 was up-regulated in collateral vessel growth induced by high fluid shear stress in rabbit hind limb, promoting the collateral vessel growth through MCP-1/CCR2 pathway that enables monocytes accumulation to mature form of macrophage.