Short Communication: Dating Components of Human Atherosclerotic Plaques

RATIONALE:Atherosclerotic plaques that give rise to acute clinical symptoms are typically characterized by degradation of the connective tissue and plaque rupture. Experimental studies have shown that mechanisms to repair vulnerable lesions exist, but the rate of remodeling of human plaque tissue ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Circulation research 2010-04, Vol.106 (6), p.1174-1177
Main Authors: Gonçalves, Isabel, Stenström, Kristina, Skog, Göran, Mattsson, Sören, Nitulescu, Mihaela, Nilsson, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Apoptosis
Carbon Radioisotopes - analysis
Carotid Arteries - chemistry
Carotid Arteries - pathology
Carotid Artery Diseases - metabolism
Carotid Artery Diseases - pathology
Carotid Artery Diseases - surgery
Cell Proliferation
Disease Progression
Fibrosis
Humans
Mass Spectrometry
Middle Aged
Nuclear Weapons
Radiometric Dating - methods
Rupture
Sweden
Time Factors
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Summary:RATIONALE:Atherosclerotic plaques that give rise to acute clinical symptoms are typically characterized by degradation of the connective tissue and plaque rupture. Experimental studies have shown that mechanisms to repair vulnerable lesions exist, but the rate of remodeling of human plaque tissue has not been studied. OBJECTIVE:In the present study, we determined the biological age of different components of advanced human atherosclerotic plaques by analyzing tissue levels of C released into the atmosphere during the nuclear weapons tests in the late 1950s and early 1960s. METHODS AND RESULTS:Atherosclerotic plaques were obtained from 10 patients (age 46 to 80 years) undergoing carotid surgery. Different regions of the plaques were dissected and analyzed for C content using accelerator mass spectrometry. At the time of surgery, the mean biological age of the cap region was 6.4±3.2 years, which was significantly lower than that of the shoulder region (12.9±3.0 years, P
ISSN:0009-7330
1524-4571
DOI:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.109.211201