Skip to main content

Atherosclerosis, Biological and Pathological Basis

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Neurovascular Imaging
  • 869 Accesses

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a extremely complicated and still well not perfectly understood pathologic process that involves the arteries of the human body. It is a multi-step process that starts with the endothelial damage and can be influenced by many factors, modifiable or not. The definition of the grade of stenosis determined by an atherosclerotic plaque and the identification of vulnerable plaques are the main goals for diagnosis, staging and therapies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Douglas G et al (2010) The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Medicine 42:9; 38(8):397–402

    Google Scholar 

  2. Tao W et al (2012) Atherosclerosis: pathogenesis and pathology. Diagn Histopathol 18(11):461–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Balboni GC et al (2004) Anatomia Umana (terza edizione, tomo I, chapter 3). Edi.Ermes s.r.l., Milano

    Google Scholar 

  4. Rindi G et al (2005) Fisiologia Umana (IX edizione). UTET S.p.A. Divisione scienze mediche, Corso Raffaello, Torino

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hopkins PN (2013) Molecular biology of atherosclerosis. Physiol Rev 93:1317–1542. doi:10.1152/physrev.00004.2012

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ignarro LJ et al (1987) Endothelium-derived relaxing factor produced and released from artery and vein is nitric oxide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 84(24):9265–9269

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Vanhoutte PM (2009) Endothelial dysfunction; the first step toward coronary arteriosclerosis. Circ J 73:595e601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Deanfield JE, Halcox JP, Rabelink TJ (2007) Endothelial function and dysfunction: testing and clinical relevance. Circulation 115:1285e95

    Google Scholar 

  9. Sima AV, Stancu CS, Simionescu M (2009) Vascular endothelium in atherosclerosis. Cell Tissue Res 335:191e203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Whayne TF Jr (2011) Atherosclerosis: current status of prevention and treatment. Int J Angiol 20(4):213–222. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1295520

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Tsimikas S, Miller YI (2011) Oxidative modification of lipoproteins: mechanisms, role in inflammation and potential clinical applications in cardiovascular disease. Curr Pharm Des 17:27e37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Doran AC, Meller N, McNamara CA (2008) Role of smooth muscle cells in the initiation and early progression of atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 28:812e9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Heissig B, Hattori K, Friedrich M, Rafii S, Werb Z (2003) Angiogenesis: vascular remodeling of the extracellular matrix involves metalloproteinases. Curr Opin Hematol 10:136e41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Visse R, Nagase H (2003) Matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases: structure, function, and biochemistry. Circ Res 92:827e39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Dhore CR, Cleutjens JP, Lutgens E et al (2001) Differential expression of bone matrix regulatory proteins in human atherosclerotic plaques. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 21:1998e2003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mishra TK et al (2013) An approach to the classification, diagnosis and management of vulnerable plaque. J Indian College Cardiol 3:57–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Virmani R, Burke AP, Kolodgie FD, Farb A (2002) Vulnerable plaque: the pathology of unstable coronary lesions. J Interv Cardiol 15:439e446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Depre C, Havaux X, Wijns W (1996) Neovascularization in human coronary atherosclerotic lesions. Cathet Cardiovasc Diagn 39:215e220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sun Z et al (2012) Coronary CT angiography: current status and continuing challenges. Br J Radiol 85:495–510

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Yang J et al (2013) MR and targeted molecular MRI of vulnerable plaques. Interv Neurol 1(3–4):124–131. doi:10.1159/000346767

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kovárník T et al (2014) Current status of intravascular ultrasound in interventional cardiology. Vnitr Lek 60(12):1062–1067

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Biasucci LM, Biasillo G, Stefanelli A (2010) Inflammatory markers, cholesterol and statins: pathophysiological role and clinical importance. Clin Chem Lab Med 48:1685e91

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michele Porcu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Porcu, M., Raz, E., Saba, L. (2015). Atherosclerosis, Biological and Pathological Basis. In: Saba, L., Raz, E. (eds) Neurovascular Imaging. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9212-2_48-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9212-2_48-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9212-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

Publish with us

Policies and ethics