Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Elastin was extracted from human aortic plaque and adjacent grossly normal intima by the following methods: (1) 0.1 N NaOH at 100 degrees C, (2) hot NaOH and 0.2 M EDTA, (3) 5 M guanidine--HCl and collagenase, (4) guanidine--collagenase and dithioerythritol--urea--sodium dodecyl sulfate, (5) guanidine--collagenase and EDTA, (6) 10% NaCl and collagenase, and (7) NaCl--collagenase and EDTA. All elastin samples contained small amounts of carbohydrate and hydroxyproline. The lipid content of non-plaque intimal elastin samples was small (2--3%), whereas it increased to 4--6% in plaque intima. The lipid composition of elastin preparations varied significantly with the extraction procedure. Elastin from plaque intima contained significantly more cholesterol (50--60%) and less triglyceride and phospholipid than elastin of non-plaque intima (30--50% cholesterol). The contents of free and esterified cholesterol were comparable in all preparations. The main phospholipid in all samples was sphingomyelin, which comprised between 50 and 80% of the total phospholipid. Compared with NaOH-purified elastin, the other elastin samples were characterized by an increased phosphatidyl--choline content, while they all contained an almost equal amount of phosphatidylethanolamine. In elastin samples from plaque intima, the polar amino acids were increased, whereas cross-linking amino acids were decreased. The polarity and hydroxyproline content of elastin samples were slightly decreased after treatment with EDTA or dithioerythritol--urea--sodium dodecyl sulfate.
Atherosclerosis 1979 May
PMID:Elastin--lipid interaction action in the arterial wall. Part 1. Extraction of elastin from human aortic intima. 46 28

Intimal tissue from human atherosclerotic aortae was collected by the Dermatome procedure. The tissue was extraved with 5 mM Tris.HCl buffer containing 0.3 M NaCl and 1 mM EDTA, pH 7.4. The ammonium sulfate precipitate between 0.4--0.8 saturation obtained from the extract was fractionated on a DEAE-cellulose column and the effluent was monitored for lipoprotein lipase inhibition employing purified bovine milk enzyme. The substrate used was an emulsion of purified olive oil and tritiated triolein. Human serum was the source of activator of the substrate. A peak of inhibitory activity was eluted between 0.15--0.17 M NaCl. The major component in the purified material had properties similar to a glycoprotein (lipolipin) which has previously been purified from porcine aorta and shown to inhibit lipoprotein lipase activity. The partially purified human inhibitor decreased both the basal and the serum-stimulated activity of milk lipoprotein lipase. The inhibition was non-competitive with respect to serum. However, high levels of triglyceride substrate appeared to relieve the inhibitory effect. It is postulated that the inhibitor may be involved in an interaction with the emulsified lipid denying the enzyme access to its substrate.
Atherosclerosis 1978 Feb
PMID:The in vitro inhibition of bovine milk lipoprotein lipase by a glycoprotein preparation from human atherosclerotic intima. 64 49

In a randomized design study in 66 hypercholesterolemic patients, dosages of 10 g of colestipol HCl twice daily lowered serum cholesterol an average of 19% more than placebo therapy. These results are comparable to those in other studies in which the same total daily dose was given in three or four doses. The most common side effect was constipation, reported by 6 patients on colestipol HCl and 3 patients on placebo. No untoward systemic reactions or abnormal laboratory data were seen except for a slight rise in serum alkaline phosphatase during colestipol HCl therapy. The drug was well accepted by most patients.
Atherosclerosis
PMID:Cholesterol-lowering effect of colestipol hydrochloride given twice daily in hypercholesterolemic patients. 79 41

The purpose of this study was to determine if chronic administration of L-arginine, the precursor of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF), normalizes endothelium-dependent relaxation and decreases atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic animals. Male rabbits were fed (a) normal rabbit chow; (b) 1% cholesterol diet; or (c) 1% cholesterol diet supplemented by 2.25% L-arginine HCl in drinking water. Arginine supplementation doubled plasma arginine levels without affecting serum cholesterol values. After 10 wk, the thoracic aorta was harvested for studies of vascular reactivity and histomorphometry. Endothelium-dependent relaxations (to acetylcholine and calcium ionophore A23187) were significantly impaired in thoracic aortae from animals fed a 1% cholesterol diet. By contrast, vessels from hypercholesterolemic animals receiving L-arginine supplementation exhibited significantly improved endothelium-dependent relaxations. Responses to norepinephrine or nitroglycerin were not affected by either dietary intervention. Histomorphometric analysis revealed a reduction in lesion surface area and intimal thickness in thoracic aortae from arginine-supplemented animals compared to those from untreated hypercholesterolemic rabbits. This is the first study to demonstrate that supplementation of dietary L-arginine, the EDRF precursor, improves endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. More importantly, we have shown that this improvement in EDRF activity is associated with a reduction in atherogenesis.
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PMID:Antiatherogenic effects of L-arginine in the hypercholesterolemic rabbit. 152 25

We have sought the very high levels of homocysteine-containing compounds in the plasma hydrolysates of myocardial infarct patients reported by Olszewski and Szostak (Atherosclerosis, 69 (1988) 109-113). We studied 6 adult males with recent myocardial infarcts and 6 healthy adult males. We found that after hydrolysis of their plasmas for 5 h in 4 mol/l HCl at 110 degrees C, the amino acid chromatographs contained several small peaks in addition to the expected substantial peaks of the protein-constituent amino acids. However, the small peaks which eluted at the same times as homocysteine, homocystine and the mixed disulphide of homocysteine and cysteine, were in each case shown not to represent these compounds. Furthermore no homocysteine thiolactone was found in the chromatographs. We found no significant differences in the size of the small peaks between the patients and the controls. Prolonged hydrolysis resulted in decreased size of all but one of the small peaks suggesting that they were hydrolytic intermediates in the breakdown of plasma proteins. Electrophoresis at pH 10.39 of the unhydrolysed plasmas showed that the proteins were not significantly more homocysteinylated in patients than in controls. Thus we have been unable to substantiate some key observations made by Olszewski and Szostak.
Atherosclerosis 1991 Feb
PMID:Failure to detect homocysteine in the acid-hydrolysed plasmas of recent myocardial infarct patients. 187 13

Thirty human aortas with varying degrees of atheroma graded macroscopically according to the WHO classification were taken at autopsy from subjects of different ages (24-86 years). Study by light microscopy showed aortas with an intact wall (4 subjects, 25-46 years) with a thin intima and regular elastic layers, and aortas with varying degrees of modification of the wall, where the intima was of varying thickness and the elastic fibers showed varying degrees of damage (moderate lesions: 5 subjects, 35-52 yrs; severe lesions: 21 subjects, 26-86 yrs). From each aorta, a 4-cm segment from the tunica media, free of atheromatous lesions, was defatted and subjected to successive treatment with EDTA-Tris, 6 M guanidine-HCl-Tris, 6 M guanidine-HCl-Tris-DTE and collagenase. The residues (EP residues) were subjected to amino acid (AA) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. In the young subject, the AA composition was similar to that of elastin and the TEM images were characteristic of this substance. In the aging subject, an increase in polar AA and a parallel decrease in apolar AA and crosslinks was noted. By TEM, the elastin was seen to be associated with abundant fibrillar material. Trypsin treatment of EP residues gave E residues, whose composition and TEM appearance were similar in all samples, corresponding to the standard composition of elastin and its classic appearance by electron microscopy. We suggest that the fibrillar material removed by trypsin is the morphological reflection of the chemical variations observed in the EP residues. These correspond to contamination of the elastin by a polar protein fraction. This contamination is closely correlated with age but not with the degree of atheroma. Thus the age-related chemical changes in elastin appear to be independent of the onset and evolution of atheromatous lesions. The 10-15 nm diameter of the contaminating fibrillar material suggests that may be the microfibrillar fraction of elastic tissue.
Atherosclerosis 1990 Jan
PMID:Age-related changes in the elastic tissue of the human thoracic aorta. 217 15

Patients with chronic renal failure who undergo hemodialysis experience accelerated atherosclerosis and premature death. Since the end-metabolite, oxalic acid, accumulates in plasma in proportion to the severity of renal failure, we studied whether sodium oxalate (0 to 300 microM) is an endothelial toxin and, therefore, might enhance atherogenesis. Exposure to uremic levels of oxalate (greater than 30 microM) for 9 to 28 days depressed endothelial cell replication by 33% to 84% (mean +/- SD, 54% +/- 15.7%, n = 17 experiments, p = 0.002). In contrast, replication of fibroblasts exposed to 200 microM oxalate for 45 days was not inhibited. The inhibitory effect of oxalate on endothelial cell replication was both dose- and time-dependent (both p less than 0.0001) and was first detected 3 to 7 days after the initial exposure to oxalate. Further, the inhibitory effect was fully reversible upon removal of oxalate, but only if exposure was limited to 5 days or less. Sodium salts of other carboxylic acids (citric, succinic, glyoxylic, and malonic; 200 microM) as well as HCl (200 microM) did not suppress endothelial cell replication. Oxalate also inhibited endothelial cell migration but had no effect on basal, thrombin-induced, or arachidonate-induced prostacyclin production by endothelial cells. Exposure of endothelial cells to sodium oxalate (200 microM) for as little as 24 hours-a time period sufficient to induce delayed, transient inhibition of replication not detectable until approximately 1 week after exposure-inhibited incorporation of 3H-leucine into protein by 40% (p = 0.009). We conclude that sodium oxalate acts as a uremic toxin, inhibiting endothelial cell replication and migration, functions which may be important for constitutive inhibition of atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Uremic levels of oxalic acid suppress replication and migration of human endothelial cells. 231 57

As the intrinsic susceptibility to atherosclerosis differs among several taxonomic groups, the present studies were conducted to compare the angiotoxic responses of atherosclerosis-susceptible (quail) and -resistant (rat) animals to allylamine, a selective cardiovascular toxin. Japanese quail (125-150 g) and Sprague-Dawley rats (175-200 g) were gavaged daily for 1, 7, or 20 d with allylamine HCl (0.7, 7, and 70 mg/kg) or tap water. At the ultrastructural level, subchronic exposure of quail and rats to allylamine was associated with dose- and time-dependent disruption of the structural integrity of aortas. These alterations correlated with fluctuations in the nonprotein thiol content of avian and rodent vessels. Angiotoxicity was not associated with alterations in serum cholesterol content. At all times and doses tested, quail were more susceptible than rats to the angiotoxic effects of allylamine. Although the avian sensitivity to toxic insult was greater than that of rodents, quail aortic homogenates bioactivated allylamine to a lesser extent than rat homogenates. Collectively, these results suggest that the aortic sensitivity to toxic insult in avian and rodent species correlates with their intrinsic susceptibility to vascular injury.
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PMID:Comparative angiotoxic responses of avian and rodent species in vivo: implications in atherogenesis. 232 52

Copper deficiency adversely affects the extracellular matrix of the arterial wall, leading to cardiovascular lesions. To study the lesions resulting from copper deficiency, the composition of proteoglycans from aortas of copper-deficient rats was compared with proteoglycans of aortas from copper-supplemented rats. Copper deficiency in rats was verified by copper levels in adrenal glands (mean +/- SE, 0.37 +/- 0.07 vs 1.03 +/- 0.17 micrograms/g wet wt in supplemented rats). The proteoglycans were isolated from the aorta by extraction with 4 M guanidine-HCl and by digestion of the tissue with elastase. The proteoglycans were purified by CsCl isopycnic centrifugation and fractionated by gel filtration. The fractions were characterized for molecular size and glycosaminoglycan composition. Total uronate in the aortas from copper-deficient rats was 25% greater than in aortas from copper-supplemented rats, and the proteoglycans from copper-deficient rat aortas were of greater molecular size. Among the glycosaminoglycans the concentration (microgram/mg tissue) of isomeric chondroitin sulfates, particularly dermatan sulfate, was greater in copper-deficient animals than in copper-supplemented animals. These observations are similar to earlier findings in experimental atherosclerosis and to a response of cardiovascular connective tissue to injury.
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PMID:Composition of proteoglycans in the aortas of copper-deficient rats. 291 12

Human plasma contains a factor capable of stimulating vascular prostacyclin generation even in atherosclerotic vessels with minimal in-vitro capacity for PGI2-synthesis. The activity of this prostacyclin stimulating plasma factor (PSPF) has been reported to be elevated in renal failure and hepatic coma. We are not aware of any data as to whether this PSPF plays a role in maintaining hemostatic balance in patients with peripheral vascular lesions. Therefore, we examined 62 patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD). This study group was subdivided into normo- and hyperlipemic subjects, patients with and without maturity onset diabetes, and plasma beta-thromboglobulin levels higher and lower than 50 ng/ml. 10 healthy sex and age matched persons served as controls. Vascular prostacyclin formation was studied in vitro after incubation of the patients' plasma and a buffer control with various tissue samples (human femoral artery, rat abdominal and thoracic aorta of healthy and of streptozotocin induced diabetic animals, swine endothelial layer and remaining tissue (media and adventitia) and cultured endothelial (EC) and smooth muscle cells (SMC) of minipig arota. In addition, 6-oxo-PFG1 alpha formation by cultured EC and SMC (minipig aorta source) after incubation with tris HCl-buffer or plasma were estimated by means of specific radioimmunoassays. In general, tissue samples and cells incubated in plasma exhibit a marked increase of in-vitro PGI2-formation as compared to buffer. No difference could be found between PSPF of CHD-patients and healthy controls. Similar findings were obtained using incubated vascular tissue and cultured cells by means of the bioassay and specific RIA, respectively. These findings indicate that the PSPF does not seem to be of any clinical relevance in hemostatic regulation in patients with advanced atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Prostacyclin synthesis stimulating plasma factor in patients with peripheral vascular disease. 295 84


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