Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The normal artery is divided into three layers — the intima, media and adventitia. The adventitia consists of connective and adipose tissue, and its function is to relate the vessel to the surrounding tissues. Although the adventitia overlying an atheromatous lesion contains inflammatory cells, the adventitia appears to play no part in the development of atherosclerosis and will not be considered further here. The media consists of smooth muscle cells, concentrically and longitudinally arranged. It is separated from the adventitia by the external elastic lamina and from the intima by the much more distinct fenestrated internal elastic lamina. The intima lines the luminal surface of the artery and consists of a thin layer of connective tissue containing, in the normal artery, a small number of smooth muscle cells, the number increasing with advancing age, and a single layer of epithelial like endothelial cells. Atherosclerosis is a disease of the intima and inner media and the arterial cells involved in the process are, therefore, endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Two circulating cells also participate in atherogenesis — monocyte-macrophages and platelets.KeywordsSmooth Muscle CellHigh Density LipoproteinSmooth Muscle Cell ProliferationArterial Smooth Muscle CellArterial CellThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.