Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, United Kingdom.
Nanomedicine. 2012 Sep;8 Suppl 1:S59-68. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2012.05.006. Epub 2012 May 26.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries, with an increasing prevalence due to an aging population. The pathology underpinning CVD is atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory state involving the arterial wall. Accumulation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) laden macrophages in the arterial wall and their subsequent transformation into foam cells lead to atherosclerotic plaque formation. Progression of atherosclerotic lesions may gradually lead to plaque related complications and clinically manifest as acute vascular syndromes including acute myocardial or cerebral ischemia. Nanotechnology offers emerging therapeutic strategies, which may have advantage overclassical treatments for atherosclerosis. In this review, we present the potential applications of nanotechnology toward prevention, identification and treatment of atherosclerosis.
心血管疾病（CVD）是发达国家发病率和死亡率的主要原因，由于人口老龄化，其患病率呈上升趋势。CVD 的病理学基础是动脉粥样硬化，这是一种涉及动脉壁的慢性炎症状态。载有低密度脂蛋白（LDL）的巨噬细胞在动脉壁中的积累及其随后转化为泡沫细胞导致动脉粥样硬化斑块的形成。动脉粥样硬化病变的进展可能逐渐导致斑块相关并发症，并在临床上表现为急性血管综合征，包括急性心肌或脑缺血。纳米技术提供了新兴的治疗策略，这些策略可能比经典的动脉粥样硬化治疗方法更有优势。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了纳米技术在预防、识别和治疗动脉粥样硬化方面的潜在应用。
