#atherosclerosis

Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), in collaboration with national and international research centers, have identified a key immune cell subtype involved in the development of atherosclerosis. In a study published in Circulation Research, the team tested an experimental therapy in animal models based on immunosuppressive nanoparticles and demonstrated that it can slow disease progression. Atherosclerosis is a chronic cardiovascular disease that affects millions of people worldwide. The disease is marked by the accumulation of cholesterol—especially low-density lipoprotein (LDL)—in the arterial walls, leading to plaque formation that restricts blood flow.

Plaque Tracking

A protein called Profilin1 is abundant in atherosclerotic plaques – blockers of blood vessels that can be life-threatening – and in mice, by reducing Profilin1 in all cell types, plaques are consequently reduced. This study finds reducing Profilin1 only in blood vessel lining cells is not sufficient to curtail plaque formation – other cells types must also be involved

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Abigail Allen-Gondringer and colleagues

Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

1/100 days - February 7th

Today I studied pathophysiology - about atherosclerosis ,and went over a case we had for this lesson.

A man was diagnosed with right hemiplegia, motor aphasia and ischemic cerebrovascular accident.

*Right hemiplegia - refers to paralysis of the right side of the body after damage to the brain or spinal cord.

*Motor aphasia- the inability to speak or to organize the muscular movements of speech.

*Stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. In this istance the stroke happened because of ischemia.

How does this correlate to atherosclerosis?

- in this case there is an occlusion of the middle cerebral artery caused by atherosclerosic plaque.

Our patient is a chronic diabetic , smoker and has a positive family anamnesis with heart disease,also dislipidemia and all of these factors are possible causes of atherosclerosis.

Once the formed plaque ruptures, a series of events happen - LDL cholesterol starts accumulating , more oxigenized LDL is forming , monocytes migrate to tunica intima, they start phagocyting oxLDL with the help of specialised receptors called scavanger receptors ,but this process doesn't stop - more and more oxLDL are accumulating inside the monocytes, making them into foam cells. The result of all this is the forming of an ateroma ,which can also rupture and be the cause of thrombosis.

*thrombosis -occurs when a blood clot forms either in a vein or an artery.

A quick infographic on Atherosclerosis!

(This is a reupload of another post, I just increased the font sizes for clarity)