Cosarca Mircea Catalin, Horváth Emőke, Molnar Calin, Molnár Gyopár-Beáta, Russu Eliza, Mureșan Vasile Adrian
Doctoral School, 'George Emil Palade' University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, 540142 Târgu-Mureș, Romania.
Department of Pathology, 'George Emil Palade' University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, 540142 Târgu-Mureș, Romania.
Exp Ther Med. 2021 Aug;22(2):865. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.10297. Epub 2021 Jun 11.
This comparative study was designed to focus on the mineral patterns in human atherosclerotic plaques based on quantitative measurements of calcium deposits through the morphometric method. A total of 101 atherosclerotic plaques were harvested by conventional transluminal angioplasty from the carotid artery (CA) and different segments of the femoral-popliteal axis (FPA), fixed in formalin and sent for histological processing. The histological grade of the atherosclerotic plaque and the calcification pattern were evaluated, followed by a morphometric analysis of the mineral deposits. Regarding the localization, the advanced plaques (VII and VIII types) developed predominantly at the level of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) compared to the CA (P<0.001). This significant difference was maintained even if they were divided into low grade (IV and V) and high grade categories (VI, VII and VIII) (P<0.05). Compared with that in the carotid plaques, in the FPA plaques the mineralized surface increased in parallel with the narrowing of the vascular lumen diameter. The image analysis of the total pathological calcification score (pCS) showed a significant difference between the CA plaques and distal SFA (dSFA) plaques (P=0.038) and between the proximal SFA (pSFA) and dSFA plaques (P=0.013). In the case of the simple nodular pattern, calcification occupied significantly larger areas in the plaques developed in the dSFA and popliteal artery (PA) in comparison with the CA plaques (P=0.0007 and P=0.0009). pCSs calculated in plaques with extensive calcification pattern showed a lower value in the CA vs. the pSFA plaques (P=0.004). A less pronounced, but significant difference was observed between the pCS of pSFA and dSFA plaques (P=0.017). Femoral and carotid plaques exhibited different morphology and tendency for calcification. In parallel with the narrowing of the vascular lumen diameter, the mineralized surface increased at the level of different FPA segments. These results suggest that the mechanism is site-specific, and wall structure-dependent.
本比较研究旨在基于通过形态计量法对钙沉积进行定量测量，聚焦于人类动脉粥样硬化斑块中的矿物质模式。通过传统腔内血管成形术从颈动脉（CA）和股腘动脉轴（FPA）的不同节段采集了总共101个动脉粥样硬化斑块，将其固定在福尔马林中并送去进行组织学处理。评估动脉粥样硬化斑块的组织学分级和钙化模式，随后对矿物质沉积进行形态计量分析。关于定位，与CA相比，高级别斑块（VII型和VIII型）主要在股浅动脉（SFA）水平发展（P<0.001）。即使将它们分为低级别（IV型和V型）和高级别类别（VI型、VII型和VIII型），这种显著差异仍然存在（P<0.05）。与颈动脉斑块相比，在FPA斑块中，矿化表面随着血管腔直径的变窄而平行增加。对总病理钙化评分（pCS）的图像分析显示，CA斑块与股浅动脉远端（dSFA）斑块之间存在显著差异（P=0.038），股浅动脉近端（pSFA）与dSFA斑块之间也存在显著差异（P=0.013）。在单纯结节模式的情况下，与CA斑块相比，dSFA和腘动脉（PA）中形成的斑块钙化占据的面积显著更大（P=0.0007和P=0.0009）。在具有广泛钙化模式的斑块中计算的pCS在CA与pSFA斑块之间显示出较低的值（P=0.004）。在pSFA和dSFA斑块的pCS之间观察到不太明显但显著的差异（P=0.017）。股动脉和颈动脉斑块表现出不同的形态和钙化倾向。随着血管腔直径的变窄，不同FPA节段水平的矿化表面增加。这些结果表明该机制具有部位特异性且依赖于血管结构。
