An in vitro method using vascular smooth muscle cells to study the effect of compounds on cell proliferation and intracellular lipid accumulation.

Primary cultures of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) were incubated with hyperlipidemic rabbit serum (HLRS) to produce intracellular lipid accumulation. Cultures were exposed to different concentrations of the test compounds and their effects upon cell proliferation and intracellular lipid accumulation were measured. The in vitro results obtained with different Ca2+ antagonists, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor and other hypolipidemic substances showed a strong correlation with the in vivo activities of these compounds, suggesting that cultured SMC may be a useful initial in vitro model to detect new chemical entities active upon atherosclerosis related parameters.