Does patency and structural changes in cryopreserved arterial grafts used as vessel substitute in the rat?
Cryopreservation modified the reparative response of the grafts. Owing to faster degeneration of the medial layer and a delay in the appearance of intimal hyperplasia, arterial wall thickness was reduced relative to that of the non-cryopreserved autografts. This thinning, at least in the short-term (90 days), does not seem to give rise to aneurysms owing to the generation of a neointima that stabilizes the vessel wall.
These studies implicate A2E as an initiator of blue light-induced apoptosis of RPE cells.