Does iron inhibit calcification during atherosclerosis?
Oxidative stress has been implicated in the etiology of atherosclerosis and even held responsible for plaque calcification. Transition metals such as iron aggravate oxidative stress. To understand the relation between calcium and iron in atherosclerotic lesions, a sensitive technique is required tha...
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Published in | Free radical biology & medicine Vol. 53; no. 9; pp. 1675 - 1679 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Elsevier Inc
01.11.2012
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Oxidative stress has been implicated in the etiology of atherosclerosis and even held responsible for plaque calcification. Transition metals such as iron aggravate oxidative stress. To understand the relation between calcium and iron in atherosclerotic lesions, a sensitive technique is required that is quantitatively accurate and avoids isolation of plaques or staining/fixing tissue, because these processes introduce contaminants and redistribute elements within the tissue. In this study, the three ion-beam techniques of scanning transmission ion microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, and particle-induced X-ray emission have been combined in conjunction with a high-energy (MeV) proton microprobe to map the spatial distribution of the elements and quantify them simultaneously in atherosclerotic rabbit arteries. The results show that iron and calcium within the atherosclerotic lesions exhibit a highly significant spatial inverse correlation. It may be that iron accelerates the progression of atherosclerotic lesion development, but suppresses calcification. Alternatively, calcification could be a defense mechanism against atherosclerotic progression by excluding iron.
► Calcium and iron show a negative correlation in advanced atherosclerotic lesions in rabbits. ► This spatial anti-correlation is highly localized. ► The average lesion iron concentration was 63.5ppm. ► The average lesion calcium concentration was 1882ppm. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2012.07.014 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0891-5849 1873-4596 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2012.07.014 |