Vasa vasorum formation is associated with rupture of intracranial aneurysms.

Objective: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has a poor outcome despite modern advancements in medical care. The development of a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent rupture of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) or a novel diagnostic marker to predict rupture-prone lesions is thus mandatory. Therefore, in the present study, the authors established a rat model in which IAs spontaneously rupture and examined this model to clarify histopathological features associated with rupture of lesions.

Methods: Female Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to bilateral ovariectomy; the ligation of the left common carotid, the right external carotid, and the right pterygopalatine arteries; induced systemic hypertension; and the administration of a lysyl oxidase inhibitor.

Results: Aneurysmal SAH occurred in one-third of manipulated animals and the locations of ruptured IAs were exclusively at a posterior or anterior communicating artery (PCoA/ACoA). Histopathological examination using ruptured IAs, rupture-prone IAs induced at a PCoA or ACoA, and IAs induced at an anterior cerebral artery-olfactory artery bifurcation that never ruptured revealed the formation of vasa vasorum as an event associated with rupture of IAs.

Conclusions: The authors propose the contribution of a structural change in an adventitia, i.e., vasa vasorum formation, to the rupture of IAs. Findings from this study provide important insights about the pathogenesis of IAs.