Hu Weicheng, Polinsky Patti, Sadoun Eman, Rosenfeld Michael E, Schwartz Stephen M
Shandong Medical University, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China.
Cardiovasc Pathol. 2005 May-Jun;14(3):120-5. doi: 10.1016/j.carpath.2005.02.004.
The present study describes the distribution of atherosclerotic lesions in the coronary arteries of chow-fed 60-week-old male ApoE(-/-), 17-beta-estradiol-treated ApoE(-/-), and wild-type mice.
The histologic examination of coronary arteries in 12 ApoE(-/-) and 6 wild-type mice, in contrast to the distribution of atherosclerosis in human coronary arteries, reveals that the major lesions in the mouse are located in the valve sinus, including the origins of the coronary arteries. These retrovalvular lesions either stop abruptly at the orifice of the common coronary artery or extend a short distance onto the arterial trunks. The first segment and first branch of all the major coronary arteries, the usual sites of disease in humans, are protected from disease. Although the arterial trunks and the first level branches are free of disease, we found approximately four independent lesions per heart. Independent lesions are present in the heart in smaller, intramyocardial vessels. These lesions are comprised predominantly of macrophages and proteoglycan and exhibit little extracellular lipid. In some cases, the independent lesions occlude the lumen without evidence of myocardial infarct in the surrounding tissue.
The specificity of the localization of lesions in certain segments of the murine coronary tree suggests that fundamental properties found at different branch levels determine lesion location.
本研究描述了正常饮食的60周龄雄性载脂蛋白E基因敲除（ApoE(-/-)）小鼠、经17-β-雌二醇处理的ApoE(-/-)小鼠以及野生型小鼠冠状动脉中动脉粥样硬化病变的分布情况。
对12只ApoE(-/-)小鼠和6只野生型小鼠的冠状动脉进行组织学检查，与人类冠状动脉中动脉粥样硬化的分布情况相比，发现小鼠的主要病变位于瓣膜窦，包括冠状动脉的起始部位。这些瓣膜后病变要么在冠状动脉共同开口处突然终止，要么在动脉干上延伸一小段距离。人类常见的疾病发生部位，即所有主要冠状动脉的第一分支和第一级分支，未出现病变。虽然动脉干和第一级分支没有病变，但我们发现每只心脏大约有四个独立的病变。独立病变存在于心脏内较小的心肌内血管中。这些病变主要由巨噬细胞和蛋白聚糖组成，细胞外脂质很少。在某些情况下，独立病变会阻塞管腔，而周围组织中没有心肌梗死的迹象。
小鼠冠状动脉树某些节段病变定位的特异性表明，在不同分支水平发现的基本特性决定了病变位置。
