OBJECTIVES Atherosclerosis is chronic inflammatory process triggered by oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can increase hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) level, which induce atherosclerosis through the processes such as formation of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), foam cells, and atherosclerotic plaque. Antioxidant is needed to control negative effects of oxidative stress. One source of antioxidant,...

OBJECTIVE Vascular calcification is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Here, we investigated a role of dedifferentiated vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the atherosclerotic intimal calcification. METHODS AND RESULTS We prepared human cultured VSMCs in either redifferentiatiated or dedifferentiated state and analyzed the gene expressions of bone-calcification regulato...

There now exists overwhelming evidence supporting the inflammatory hypothesis of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Cellular interactions between leukocytes, platelets and endothelial cells are critical in the initiation and progression of atherosclerotic disease. Acute coronary syndromes, namely unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction, and thromboembolic stroke represent acute unstable ...

Novel biomarkers, such as circulating (auto)antibody signatures, may improve early detection and treatment of ruptured atherosclerotic lesions and accompanying cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction. Using a phage-display library derived from cDNAs preferentially expressed in ruptured peripheral human atherosclerotic plaques, we performed serological antigen selection to isolate d...

Fractalkine (CX3CL1, FKN) is expressed in the inflamed vascular wall and absence of FKN reduces atherogenesis. Whether FKN is expressed throughout all stages of atherosclerotic disease and whether it directly contributes to monocyte recruitment to atherosclerotic lesions is not known. We collected human atherosclerotic plaque material and blood samples from patients with carotid artery disease ...

Atherosclerosis impairs endothelium-dependent relaxation of large conduit arteries. Because coronary resistance vessels are spared from the development of overt atherosclerosis, endothelium-dependent responses were examined in these vascular segments. Malaysian cynomolgus monkeys (n = 6) were made atherosclerotic by being fed a 0.7% cholesterol diet for 18 months. Control monkeys (n = 6) were f...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of mortality in the Western world, and plaque diagnosis is still a challenge in cardiovascular medicine. The main focus of this study was to make atherosclerotic plaques visible using targeted nanoparticles for improved imaging. Today various biomarkers are known to be involved in the pathophysiologic scenario of atherosclerotic plaques. One promisi...

To test the hypothesis that atherosclerosis impairs endothelium-dependent vascular relaxation, we examined the effect of the endothelium-dependent vasodilators acetylcholine and thrombin and the endothelium-independent vasodilator nitroglycerin on iliac arteries from normal cynomolgus monkeys and cynomolgus monkeys with diet-induced atherosclerosis. Rings of iliac artery were suspended in organ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was an analysis of heteroplasmy level in mitochondrial mutations 652delG, A1555G, C3256T, T3336C, 652insG, C5178A, G12315A, G13513A, G14459A, G14846A, and G15059A in normal and affected by atherosclerosis segments of morphologically mapped aortic walls. METHODS We investigated the 265 normal and atherosclerotic tissue sections of 5 human aortas. Intima o...

AIM The aim of our work was to determine the influence of intestinal bacteria on the development of atherosclerotic lesions using apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-deficient knockout mice. METHODS The experiments were performed on ApoE-/--deficient mouse strain C57BL/6, bred under germ-free (GF) conditions for two generations or under conventional conditions with defined microflora (CV). The mice were ...