week #7 Flashcards
Cholesterol is _____ made in plants and is called an ______ molecule due to its dual properties
not
amphipathic
The 4 fates of cholesterol synthesised in the liver are?
- Transported to the tissues first must have the 3-OH group esterified so we get a uniformly fatty molecule (cholesterol ester). Assembled into VLDL for transport to tissues
- Bile acid stored in the gall bladder, used on demand to emulsify fatty meals
- Steroid hormoned and Vitamin D-Synthesised from cholesterol in gonads/adrenal glands and skin
- Membranes-Cholesterol forms 10-50% of the phospho-lipid bylayer. Cholesterol is a steric hinderer of the phospholipids and limits fluidity of the membrane
membrane rafts
are regions of the membrane where signalling molecules can congregate as well as glycolipid and sphingolipid
Cholesterol synthesis in the liver?
- Start with acetyl CoA and then this links to another two acetly CoA to form HMG CoA
- This is converted to Mevalonate acid by HMG-CoA reductase
- Mevalonate goes through a few more conversions to form Cholesterol.
- Cholesterol then provides negative feedback to HMG-CoA reductase
Activated Isoprene
Is an intermediate of the cholesterol synthesis pathway and is involved in the synthesis of many other molecules
Chylomicrons, LDL, VLDL, HDL
arrange in order of size
density
and protein contents
Largest to smallest: Chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, HDL
Density (low to high): Chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, HDL
Protein content (low to high): Chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, LDL
Chylomicrons
- made in the intestine and take TAGs and cholesterol ester from gut and transfer it to tissues via the lymphatics and blood and then take the chylomicron remnant and returns to the liver.
- Apolipoproteins: B-48 involved in structure and ApoE is involved in uptake of chylomicron remnants
- *ApoCII** activates lipoprotein lipase in tissues so that the TAGs can be removed
VLDL
- VLDL formed in liver and carry TAGs and cholesterol ester from liver to tissues via the blood and lymphatics through the action of lipoprotein lipase which removes TAGs in muscle and adipose tissue and then the VLDL heads back to the liver again
- Apo B-100 (same gene as Apo B-48) and Apo E for strucuture and uptake into liver
- They also have ApoCII which activates lipoprotein lipase
VLDL packaged with TAGs and cholesterol ester
LDL
- When VLDL loses Apo-E it can become LDL
- LDL derived from VLDL circulates around longer, lost most of the Apo lipoproteins except Apo B-1 and Apo-A-V
HDL
- HDL made in liver and intestine
- Good cholesterol involved in reverse cholesterol transport
- converts free cholesterol to cholesterol ester and takes it back to liver and it also acts on macrophages and stops them becoming foam cells
- Two Apo A-1 proteins make a hydrophobic ring to round up cholesterol-ester and phospholipids to mature into HDL
- Apo A-1 binds SR-B1 receptor in liver and transfers its cargo of cholesterol-ester
Cholesterol pathway
ACAT
acyl co-A cholesterol acyl transferase-makes cholesterol ester for VLDL in liver
LCAT
LCAT in plasma helps HDL scavenge cholesterol from membranes and takes up cholesterol and turns it into cholesterol ester
Hypercholesteroleamia
- Is an increase in total cholesterol in the blood above 6.2mM is high and 5.2-6.2 is boderline
- Oxidised LDLs are particularly atherogenic
Atherosclerosis
Put the steps in order:
- White cells (monocytes and T-cells) invade the tissue and secrete inflammatory mediators (cytokines).
- Endothelial cells in the artery react by displaying adhesion molecules.
- Modified (oxidised) LDL accumulates in an artery wall (favoured by high LDL).
- Macrophages appear, take up the modified LDLs using scavenger receptors.
- Fibrous tissue develops to trap the foam cells.
- Macrophages become engorged with cholesterol. At this stage they are called foam cells.
- Foam cells produce “tissue factor” that can lead to a blood clot in the artery upon rupture of the plaque.
Fatty Streak
- Modified (oxidised) LDL accumulates in an artery wall (favoured by high LDL).
- Endothelial cells in the artery react by displaying adhesion molecules.
- White cells (monocytes and T-cells) invade the tissue and secrete inflammatory mediators (cytokines).
- Macrophages appear, take up the modified LDLs using scavenger receptors.
- Macrophages become engorged with cholesterol. At this stage they are called foam cells.
- Fibrous tissue develops to trap the foam cells.
- Foam cells produce “tissue factor” that can lead to a blood clot in the artery upon rupture of the plaque.
Cholesterol in diet
Apparently makes a small contribution to the overall cholesterol blood levels as those predisposed to make more cholesterol will
Statins
- Inhibit synthesis of cholesterol through inhibiting the rate limiting enzyme HMG CoA reductase enzyme
- competitve inhibitor
- Importantly this also results in upregulation of the LDL and HDL receptor in the liver so more cholesterol is transported back to the liver for making into new VLDL
Side effects of Statins?
- Statins reduce Q10 (coenzyme Q) production, which is involved in mitochondrial bioenergy transfer.
- The clinical use of HMG CoA-reductase inhibitors (statins) can cause skeletal and cardiac muscle complications.
- But Q10 supplements do not seem to be working in rectifying this i.e. do not decrease mytotoxicity
4 factors impacting on coronary artery blood flow are?
- perfusion pressure-blood pressure (i.e. amount of blood)
- cornoary vascular resistance
- external compression (contracting muscle pushes on the vessels
- intrninic regulation (endothelial and myocyte metabolistes) e.g. prostocyclin, nitric oxide, endothelin
Transmural infarct vs Non-Transmural infarct
Non transmural infarct is not as severe and primarily effects the subendocardium
whereas transmural infarct effects the myocardium as well once infarct has spread out
Note that the endocardium (like the intima) is able to gain blood supply from the blood in the ventricle and so is left unnafected
So order is endocardium, subendocardium, myocardium (responsible for contraction), epicardium (outer layer) and the fiborus sac, the pericardium
Supply of heart by coronary arteries
Myocardial infarction at 0 to 30 minutes
Angina
- 30 minutes
- reversible injury
- intracellular changes that cannot be seen may be abe to see only on electronic microscopy-mitochondrial swelling etc
- functionally there is a rapid loss of contractility
- May see ECG changes
- ST depression and/or T wave inversion
Myocardial Infarction at 30 minutes to 12 hours
- Irreversibe cell injury
- disruption of the cell membrane
- cardiac proteins (Troponin and Creatin Kinase) start to leak out-can be measured in the blood
- calcium starts to leak out as well and this can lead to ECG changes
- ST Segment Elevation (STEMI)
- ST Segment Depression (NSTEMI)
- “Myocardial Irritability”
- So to help diagnosis at this stage we would measure protein levels in the blood as well as taking an ECG
Under the microscope
- irreversible injury
- cell death
- heammorhage
- oedema
- Coagulative necrosis=Mycocytes with blood in between and the fading of the nuclei with maniantance of cell strucutre
- may not see any gross morphological changes
Myocardial infarction at 12:00 to 24:00 hours
- Inflammation
- Neutrophils enter
- contraction band necrosis-looks like tiger stripes
- shows that myocytes are dying
- Gross morphology may show some reddening of the heart walls
Myocardial infarction at 1 to 3 days
- At this stage there are few myocytes left in the site of the infarct-i.e. mainly neutrophils and debris-pus
- and gross morphology also looks like pus
- so no muscle-is just yellow soft pus
- at around this time-1 days the troponin level is at its highest
- and then gradually decreases after that
- we can look at the troponin levels and perhaps guess as to what stage the myocardial infarction is at
Myocardial infarction at 3 to 7 days
- Macrophages now enter and lay down granulation tissue so still a bit like a jelly, not that strong.
- macroophages ingest dead myocytes
- fibroblasts and vessels of granulation tissue appear
- collagen begins to be laid down at 5-6 days
Gross mophology
- red ring of vascular granulation tissue with central yellowing
List some of the complications that can occur in myocardial infarction at days 1 to 3
- The damaged myocytes are unstable-ARRHYTHMIA
- The damaged myocytes are being destroyed-CARDIAC FAILURE
- The damaged wall isn’t moving normally-MURAL THROMBUS
- The wall is necrotic and weakened-RUPTURE
- Inflammatory mediators abound-PERICARDITIS
Cardiac tamponade
- Rupture of the lateral wall and blood is pushed into the pericardium and can actually push back on the heart and stop it from beating
What are the three ways in which the heart can rupture?
and in each case what are the consequences?
- Rupture of Free Ventricular Wall
- Blood into pericardium “Haemopericardium”
- Compressing the heart until it stops “Cardiac Tamponade”
- Rupture of Papillary Muscle
- New onset murmur
- Mitral regurgitation
- Cardiac Failure
- Rupture of IV Septum
- New onset murmur
- Ventricular Septal Defect
- Cardiac Failure
Myocardial infarction at 1-8 weeks
Under the microscope
- early and then late granulation tissue
- is initially very cellular and vascular with neutrophils and then more collagen is laid down as vessels and cell number decreases
Gross Morhology
- at 3 weeks
- collagen is pale grey and white flecks appearing but still some granulation tissue
- at this point the collagen tissue is still quite flexible and may stretch causing thinning of the wall
- at 6 weeks
- more fibrous white tissue building up
- *
List some complications that could arise from myocardial infarction at weeks 1 to 8
arrythmia and cardiac failure are now somewhat less likely but we can get:
- Mural Thrombus
- and
- Aneurysm (infarct expansion)
This is due to the still immature collagen and though the wall is strong again, it is soemwhat flexible to wall stress and may stretch, thin and bulge out. which can lead to aneurysm which can lead to thrombus due to blood stasis
Mycocardial Infarction at 8 weeks and beyond
Under the microscope
- Extensive fibrosis in the area of infarction
- fixed dense collagen with the occasional cell
Gross Morhology
- wall may be thinner and is white fibrotic tissue
- may see evidense of aneurysms or mural thrombi
*
Complications of myocardial infarction 8 weeks and beyond
Now the risks are not as great and the damage has pretty much healed but heart may still be susceptible to:
- Arryhtmia is now less likely but possibel due to fibrosis which could result in the formation of electrical islands
- Cardiac failure could occur as remainign myocytes will have to compensate for the death of the other myocytes and this could result in hypertrophy and then eventual decompensation
- Any Aneurysms formed will not be removed but with all the fibrotic tissue are now unlikely to rupture but are still a place for blood stasis and therefore potential thrombosis
Classify these as either acute or chronic ischemic heart disease:
Unstable angina, Stable angina, chronic myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, sudden death cardiac death
Acute
- myocardial infarction, sudden death cardiac death and unstable angina
Chronic
- Stable angina, chronic myocardial ischemia
Stable Angina
- Presents as reproducible cardiac chest pain that occurs on exertion and goes away with rest
- due to atherosclerotic narrowing
- endothelium will be dysfunctional and will not dilate itself-innapropriate vasoconstriction
- at 70% Stenosis symptoms ussually start
Unstable Angina
- Presents as cardiac chest pain that may occur at rest
or minimal exertion and may not resolve with rest - acute plaque event that could occur via heamorrhage and thromobosis
- it does resolve though-i.e. we can break the clot down and there is no permenant damage
- can occur at rest or with exertion
Chronic Myocardial Infarction
- Small areas of subendothelial ischaemia
- ongoing chronic narrowing of the vessels and overtime we get little patches of necrosis and fibrosis due to gradual loss of blood supply
Similar to the sort of fibrosis you might see in myocardial hypertrophy
- Carries similar risk of cardiac failure and arrhythmia
Sudden Cardiac death
- defined as a sudden death due to cardiac causes in a time frame less than an hour in someone with no previous cardiac conditions
- mostly ischeamic heart disease and frequently due to an early arrythmia
- or could be a silent infarct and then we get an acute rupture and pass away- would be classified as sudden cardiac death even though disease progression may have been occuring for awhile
- Other causes include
- Anomalous coronary arteries
- Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (genetic, acquired)
- Floppy mitral valve
- Cardiomyopathy (genetic, acquired, infective)
- Cardiac Conduction Syndrome (genetic)
Glyceryl Trinitrate
converted in the body to form nitric oxide which is a powerful vasodilator
If someone presents with myocardial infarction what do you do?
- give oxygen
- give aspirin-blood thinner
- give GTN-decrease preload on the
- measure troponin levels and ECG
3 main fates of cholesterol are?
- incorparated into VLDL in the liver for delivery around the body
- made into bile acids for fat emulsification and stored in the gall bladder
- used for membrane synthesis
Cholesterol transprt and metabolism
- *Cholesterol can be sythesised in liver or from diet**
- *From intestine** it is packaged into chylomicrons and then circulates
From liver, VLDL cholesterol
Once chylomicrons and VLDL reach capillaries lipoprotien lipase hyrodlyses the TGs and then we get release of free fatty acids and then they are taken up by tissue and used for energy
this means that the VLDL and chylomicirn remanats are now dense in cholesterol and then the remnant circualte in bloodstream and then if they are transported to liver they can be taken up through LDL hepatic receptors for re-use into VLDL
OR
they can be converted to LDL and then they can circualte and deposit cholesterol into extra-hepatic tissue
and then this can form atherosclerosis
HDL are good ad they are involved in reverse cholesteral transport, they take cholesterol that has been deposited in the tissues and take it back to the liver and may use it for bile acid synthesis
Apo B-100
Allow for cholesterol transport into tissues and into vessel walls
- IDL, LDL, VLDL
Statins _____ the levels of LDL and ____ the levels of HDL in the blood
lower, increase
Statins
Precautions
and
Adverse effects
Precautions
- avoid grapefruit juice due to common cytochrome p450 pathway
- avoid drugs with same metabolism pathway
- mild elevation in aminotransferase
- minor increases in creatine kinase
- can lead to muscle pain and tenderness
Adverse effects
- common adverse effects
- mild GI symptoms, headache, insomnia, dizziness
- rare but serious adverse effects
- myopathy (minimised by UQ10 treatment?)
- rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of muscle resulting in myoglobin release into the bloodstream)
- renal failure
- hepatitis, liver failure
- Contraindicated in preganancy
- impaired fetal myelination
- withold during infection, post surgery and post trauma
Bile acid sequestrants/resins
- bind bile acid (cholesterol metabolites) preventing gut absorption
- up to 10-fold increase in bile excretion
- increased demand for cholesterol for bile acid synthesis causes upregulation of hepatic LDL receptors, removal of LDL from plasma and more cholesterol metabolism
Adverse effects
- bile acid sequestrations can result in bloating and constipation etc so need to drink enough water
- more serious can get increase TGs, steatthorea and feacal impaction and decreased absorption of fat soluble vitamins
- can also get decreased absorption of other drugs
Ezetimibe
- specifically inhibits cholesterol absorption in the
intestine by binding to a sterol transporter (NiemannPick C1-like 1 protein) - does not affect absorption of bile acids, fat soluble
vitamins - lowers LDL
Possible adverse effects
- diarrhea, headache, tiredness
- allergic reactions, severe joint or stomach pain
Nicotinic acid=niacin=Vitamin B3
- Mechanism remains unclear
- decrease secretion of VLDL particles from liver
- reduces plasma LDL and triglycerides (so also for
mixed hyperlipidaemia) - increases HDL
- can potentially lower athergenic lipoprotein Lp(a) formed from LDL.
- Lp(a) is found in plaques and inhibites thromboylsis
- so vitamin B is good in that it lowers Lp(a)
Adverse effects
- common adverse effects
- vasosodilation, flushing, hypotension
- nausea, vomiting
- tolerance develops to gastric upsets
- rare adverse effects
- itching
- glucose intolerance
- uric acid retention
- may increase hepatic impairment
- not widely used except in combination
Fibrates
- agonists at nuclear receptors, so regulate gene expression
- peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha)
- PPARalpha is a nuclear receptor responsible for regulating gene transcription and its activation results in increased synthesis of lipoprotein lipase (LPL)
- Lipoprotien lipase breaks down TGs into free fatty acids so increase sythesis is good as we get more fatty acid release and less cholesterol
- peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha)
- increase lipolysis of lipoprotein triglyceride
- moderate reduction in plasma triglycerides
- moderate increase in HDL
- variable effects on LDL
- generally used as adjunct to dietary changes for high TGs, mixed hyperipidaemia, and second line therapy for hypercholesterolaemia
Adverse effects
- mild elevation of serum aminotransferase
- monitor at 3 month intervals, reduce dose or discontinue if necessary
- common adverse effects
- nausea, dry mouth, headache, rash
- rare adverse effects
- arrhythmias
- gallstones
- photosensitivity
- impotence
- depression
Treat hypercholeteroleamia with fish oils
- Results in reduced VLDL and reduced TGs
- and increased HDL