Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in dura mater of patients with moyamoya disease

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been found to be involved in vasculogenesis in different intracranial lesions. We investigated meningeal cellularity and VEGF expression in dura mater of patients with and without moyamoya disease. Nine dural specimens from nine cerebral hemispheres of seven patients with moyamoya disease and four control dural specimens from four non-moyamoya patients were collected during surgery and investigated. Dural specimens were immunohistochemically stained with VEGF antibody, and then meningeal cellularity and VEGF expression in dural tissue were analyzed. The mean +/- standard error (SE) of total number of meningeal cells (meningeal cellularity) in dural tissue was 21.5 +/- 3.0 in the moyamoya disease patients, whereas it was 2.7 +/- 0.7 in control patients. The mean +/- SE of VEGF expression was 51.1 +/- 4.9% in the moyamoya disease patients, whereas it was 13.8 +/- 5.9% in control patients. The meningeal cellularity and VEGF expression were statistically significantly higher in the moyamoya group in comparison to control group (p < 0.0001). Meningeal cellularity and VEGF expression are significantly increased in dura mater of the patients with moyamoya disease.