Intracoronary serotonin release after high-pressure coronary stenting

It is known that platelet-derived serotonin at the site of coronary angioplasty induces an increase in coronary tone and plays a role in vasoconstriction after balloon angioplasty. The goal of the present investigation was to compare local release of serotonin with changes in coronary tone after coronary stenting and coronary angioplasty. Twenty patients with significant stenosis (≥ 50% diameter narrowing) of the left anterior descending coronary artery were referred to traditional coronary angioplasty (10 patients; group 1) or high-pressure coronary stenting (10 patients; group 2). An additional 16 patients with similar angiographic characteristics were referred to the coronary angioplasty group (8 patients; group 1a) or stenting group (8 patients; group 2a) after pretreatment with ketanserin. Serotonin plasma levels in coronary sinus and coronary cross- sectional area distal to the site of dilatation were measured before and after both revascularization procedures. In groups 1 and 1a, plasma serotonin levels in coronary sinus increased from basal values of 3.2 ± 0.8 and 3.2 ± 0.5 ng/ml to 29.5 ± 13 and 25.6 ± 9 ng/ml after ballooning (p 2; p 2; p