Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis W8 Flashcards
What is arteriosclerosis?
Hardening of arteries
What is atherosclerosis?
Lipid plaques causes arteries to become narrowed and hardened
What does atherosclerosis effect?
Coronary Arteries
What is myocardial infarction?
Where blood flow through the coronary artery is cut off
Cardiac myocytes are derived of oxygen= causes the cell to die
How does LDL pass through endothelial cells?
Transcytosis
How does LDL enter body cells?
Via receptor mediated endocytosis
When does progression atherosclerosis begin?
When the endothelial cells of the arterial wall become damaged
What causes endothelial cells of the arterial wall to become damaged?
Hypertension
Smoking
Hyperglycaemia (High blood glucose)
Hypercholesterolemia
What is Hypercholesterolemia?
Increased numbers of LDLs in blood which enter the tunica intima
What is the tunica intima?
The innermost layer of an artery or vein
What does cell damage to endothelial cells cause?
Increased permeability of the arterial walls
What is diapedesis?
The movement of white blood cells through endothelial cells after undergoing morphological changes
What do endothelial cells express when they are damaged?
Adhesion molecules
Do monocytes attach to endothelial cells?
No
How does oxidation occur when free radicals are produced from white blood cells?
LDL make contact with these free radicals
What stimulates white blood cells to produce even more oxygen free radicals?
When LDL particles are engulfed
How is a positive feedback system caused?
Area of damaged endothelial cells accumulate modified LDL particles and migrating white blood cells
What are macrophages?
The tunica intima engulf modified LDL particles
What is a foam cell?
Saturated with LDL particles
Excessive amount of lipid in the cell gives the cytoplasm a foamy appearance
They die and release contents to be engulfed by white blood cells
What is a thrombus?
Where a clot forms and attaches to the wall
What is embolus?
Clots breaks loose from arterial wall downstream to smaller vessels
