Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1679, USA.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 1994 Jan-Feb;4(1):45-9. doi: 10.1016/1050-1738(94)90025-6.
Calcification is commonly associated with atherosclerosis, and it has important clinical implications, especially in coronary arteries. The mineral has been identified as the same mineral as in bone, hydroxyapatite, and several features of its development suggest a mechanism similar to osteogenesis and not merely passive precipitation. The artery wall has been shown to contain several bone-related proteins, including those for osteopontin, osteonectin, and osteocalcin, as well as proteoglycan core proteins homologous with bone biglycan. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that a potent osteogenic differentiation factor, bone morphogenetic protein 2a, is expressed in calcified human atherosclerotic lesions, suggesting that arterial calcification may be initiated by an osteogenic differentiation. In addition, a cell capable of calcium mineral formation in vitro has been isolated from bovine and human aorta and identified by immunostaining as having a surface marker characteristic of microvascular pericytes. These findings suggest the possibility that plaque calcification develops when a signal from atherosclerotic plaque or a factor associated with atherosclerosis induces expression of bone morphogenetic protein, leading to osteogenic differentiation of pluripotential, pericytelike cells located in the arterial intima, which then produce bonelike matrix and hydroxyapatite mineral. These findings also raise questions as to whether osteogenic-promoting factors used to prevent osteoporosis may also increase risk of arterial calcification.
钙化通常与动脉粥样硬化有关，具有重要的临床意义，特别是在冠状动脉中。这种矿物质已被确定为与骨相同的矿物质，即羟磷灰石，其发展的几个特征表明其机制类似于成骨作用，而不仅仅是被动沉淀。动脉壁已被证明含有几种与骨相关的蛋白质，包括骨桥蛋白、骨连接蛋白和骨钙素，以及与骨结合蛋白聚糖核心蛋白同源的蛋白聚糖核心蛋白。我们的实验室最近表明，一种有效的成骨分化因子，骨形态发生蛋白 2a，在钙化的人类动脉粥样硬化病变中表达，表明动脉钙化可能是由成骨分化引发的。此外，我们已经从牛和人主动脉中分离出一种能够在体外形成钙矿物质的细胞，并通过免疫染色鉴定为具有与小血管周细胞表面标志物特征一致的细胞。这些发现表明，当来自动脉粥样硬化斑块的信号或与动脉粥样硬化相关的因素诱导骨形态发生蛋白的表达时，斑块钙化可能会发展，导致位于动脉内膜的多潜能周细胞样细胞发生成骨分化，然后产生骨样基质和羟磷灰石矿物质。这些发现还提出了一个问题，即用于预防骨质疏松症的成骨促进因子是否也会增加动脉钙化的风险。
