Hypercholesterolemia is a main risk factor for atherosclerosis development. Arterial macrophages, or foam cells, take-up and process lipoprotein particles deposited in arteries, and store much of the cholesterol carried by these particles in their cytoplasm. However, the effects of exposure to different cholesterol levels on foam cells remain poorly understood. Given the remarkable plasticity o...

Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) have been widely applied in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage devices. The battery thermal management system (BTMS) critically impacts the safety degradation of LiBs. Phase change material (PCM) is a promising passive BTMS solution owing to its high latent heat non-parasitic power consumption requirements. In this paper, paraffin (PA) as PCM was embedded co...

BACKGROUND Inflammation and activation of immune cells have important roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. We analyzed the involvement of various immune cells in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. METHODS We investigated the presence of foam cells, lymphocytes and killer cells in 11 atherosclerotic plaque specimens removed from Korean patients who underwent carotid endoarterectomy....

The Th1-derived cytokine gamma interferon, IFN-gamma, is present within the microenvironment of an atheromatous lesion and likely contributes to lesion progression through macrophage activation. While the inflammatory effects of IFN-gamma are well known, the role of this cytokine in cholesterol metabolism in macrophage derived foam cells is unclear. In the present study, the incubation of foam ...

In late-stage atherosclerosis, much of the cholesterol in macrophage foam cells resides within enlarged lysosomes. Similarly, human macrophages incubated in vitro with modified LDLs contain significant amounts of lysosomal free cholesterol and cholesteryl ester (CE), which disrupts lysosomal function similar to macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions. The lysosomal cholesterol cannot be removed,...

AIMS Accumulation of foam cells in the intima is a hallmark of early-stage atherosclerotic lesions. Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761) has been reported to exert anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties in atherosclerosis, yet the significance and the molecular mechanisms of action of EGb761 in the formation of macrophage foam cells are not fully understood. METHODS AND RESULTS Treatment w...

The acyl-CoA: cholesterol acyl transferase (ACAT) reaction in macrophages is a critical step in atherosclerotic foam cell formation, but little is known about the reaction's sterol substrate specificity. In this report we examine the macrophage ACAT reactivity of the shellfish sterol, desmosterol, and other sterols found in man because of shellfish ingestion or in association with the foam cell...

The role of K(+) channels in macrophage immunomodulation has been well-established. However, it remains unclear whether K(+) channels are involved in the lipid uptake of macrophages. The expression and function of the inward rectifier potassium channel (Kir2.1, KCNJ2) in Human acute monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) cells and human monocytes derived macrophages (HMDMs) were investigated usin...

The synthesis of lipid by rabbit atherosclerotic intima incubated in vitro has been investigated and compared with that of foam cells isolated from intima] lesions. In the atherosclerotic arterial intima, C-labeled acetate is readily incorporated into the lipid fraction, most of the label being found in the phospholipid and cholesterol ester fatty acid fractions. Minimal incorporation into trig...

The problem of partitioning space into equal-volume cells, using the least interface area, was considered in 1887 by Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin [Kel]. His proposed solution yields a foam with cells of a single shape, tiling space by the translations of the body-centered cubic lattice. In 1993, Denis Weaire and Robert Phelan [WP] proposed a new equal-volume foam with two different cell sha...