Hirsch D, Azoury R, Sarig S, Kruth H S
Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, School of Applied Science and Technology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Calcif Tissue Int. 1993 Feb;52(2):94-8. doi: 10.1007/BF00308315.
Cholesterol and calcium phosphate, the latter in the form of hydroxyapatite, accumulate in atherosclerotic lesions. In this report, we demonstrate that these organic and inorganic constituents of lesions can accumulate together, closely associated in crystal agglomerates. Using the fluorescent cholesterol probe, filipin, we identified unesterified cholesterol that was associated with calcium granules in tissue sections of lesions. We also have shown that small crystallites of cholesterol can associate with preformed hydroxyapatite crystals in vitro. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis demonstrated the physical association of many small crystallites of cholesterol with larger crystals of hydroxyapatite. These small crystallites of cholesterol associated with hydroxyapatite stained with filipin. This contrasted with the lack of filipin staining of unassociated larger cholesterol crystals or hydroxyapatite alone. How cholesterol and calcium come to be closely associated in crystal agglomerates within atherosclerotic lesions remains to be determined.
胆固醇和磷酸钙（后者以羟基磷灰石的形式存在）在动脉粥样硬化病变中积聚。在本报告中，我们证明病变的这些有机和无机成分可以一起积聚，在晶体团聚物中紧密相连。使用荧光胆固醇探针制霉菌素，我们在病变组织切片中鉴定出与钙颗粒相关的未酯化胆固醇。我们还表明，胆固醇微晶可以在体外与预先形成的羟基磷灰石晶体结合。扫描电子显微镜与能量色散X射线分析相结合，证明了许多胆固醇微晶与较大的羟基磷灰石晶体之间的物理关联。这些与羟基磷灰石相关的胆固醇微晶被制霉菌素染色。这与未结合的较大胆固醇晶体或单独的羟基磷灰石缺乏制霉菌素染色形成对比。胆固醇和钙如何在动脉粥样硬化病变内的晶体团聚物中紧密结合仍有待确定。
