This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Demer, L. L. Articles by Tintut, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Demer, L. L. Articles by Tintut, Y. Related Collections Related Article

(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2008;28:1882.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Nanoscale Architecture in Atherosclerotic Calcification

Linda L. Demer; Andrew P. Sage; Yin Tintut

From the Departments of Medicine, Physiology, and Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles.

Correspondence to Linda L. Demer, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 LeConte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1679. E-mail LDemer@mednet.ucla.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Calcium mineral deposits are radiographically evident in the majority of significant atherosclerotic lesions.¹ These deposits generally consist of a nonhomogeneous composite containing hydroxyapatite mineral nanocrystals embedded in an organic matrix including type I collagen nanofibers. The morphometry varies over a spectrum. Amorphous deposits lack organization at the light-microscopic scale, whereas bone-like deposits have varying degrees of architectural macro-organization similar to those of developing and mature skeletal bone, which also consist of a nonhomogeneous composite containing hydroxyapatite nanocrystals embedded in a collagenous organic matrix. Based on histopathologic features, the organized, bone-like deposits appear to arise from angiogenic invasion of the amorphous deposits.² This is consistent with the known sequence of events that leads to bone formation in fracture repair, embryonic intramembranous ossification, and in embryonic endochondral ossification, where bone arises from a cartilage scaffold.

See accompanying article on page 2030

The similarities between atherosclerotic calcification and osteogenesis are more than skin deep. Several investigative groups have demonstrated osteogenic features at the cellular and molecular levels, including dynamic osteogenic gene expression in vitro and in vivo as reviewed recently by Towler and colleagues.³ In this issue of ATVB, Duer and colleagues⁴ take this comparison to the next level—nanoscale architecture. Using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, they examined the mineral-organic interface in calcium deposits from atherosclerotic plaque and skeletal bone and found marked similarities. The NMR method (rotational echo double resonance) has the capacity to isolate the nanoscale features because it generates forces that act only within distances less than 1 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Mineral Surface in Calcified Plaque Is Like That of Bone: Further Evidence for Regulated Mineralization

Melinda J. Duer, Tomislav Friscic, Diane Proudfoot, David G. Reid, Michael Schoppet, Catherine M. Shanahan, Jeremy N. Skepper, and Erica R. Wise
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2008 28: 2030-2034. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]