Ryazan State Medical University

The aim of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the concentration of TGF-1 and the activity of cathepsins in vascular wall homogenates in patients with varicose veins of the lower extremities at different stages of the disease according to the CEAP classification. The concentration of TGF-1 in the vascular wall homogenate was determined by sandwich ELISA on a StatFax 2100 enzyme immunoassay analyzer (microplatereader) (Awareness technology Inc. Palm City, FL 34990, USA). The results were expressed in pg/ml. The activity of cathepsins B, L and H in the vascular wall homogenate was determined using the Barrett and Kirschke spectrofluorimetric method on a Shimadzu RF 6000 spectrofluorimeter (Shimadzu Corporation, Japan). The results were expressed in nmol/hrg of protein. Our study revealed changes in the concentration levels of TGF-1 and the activity of captesins B, L, and H, which may indicate a violation of their regulation and be a central pathogenetic link in the remodeling of varicose veins of the lower extremities.