Cholesterol induced heart valve inflammation and injury: efficacy of cholesterol lowering treatment.

Background: Heart valves often undergo a degenerative process leading to mechanical dysfunction that requires valve replacement. This process has been compared with atherosclerosis because of shared pathology and risk factors. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the role of inflammation triggered by cholesterol infiltration and cholesterol crystals formation causing mechanical and biochemical injury in heart valves.

Frequency of Cholesterol Crystals in Culprit Coronary Artery Aspirate During Acute Myocardial Infarction and Their Relation to Inflammation and Myocardial Injury.

Cholesterol crystals (CCs) have been associated with plaque rupture through mechanical injury and inflammation. This study evaluated the presence of CCs during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and associated myocardial injury, inflammation, and arterial blood flow before and after percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients presenting with AMI (n = 286) had aspiration of culprit coronary artery obstruction.

PET/CTA detection of muscle inflammation related to cholesterol crystal emboli without arterial obstruction.

Background: PET/CTA was used to evaluate the effect of cholesterol crystal emboli (CCE) on muscle injury. Cholesterol crystals (CCs) released during plaque rupture travel downstream and lodge in muscle triggering inflammation and tissue injury.

Methods: Thigh muscles in three groups of rabbits (n = 22) were studied after intra-arterial injection of CCs, Group I (n = 10); polystyrene microspheres, Group II (n = 5); or normal saline, Group III (n = 7).

Plaque Rupture and Thrombosis: the Value of the Atherosclerotic Rabbit Model in Defining the Mechanism.

Persistent inflammation and mechanical injury associated with cholesterol crystal accretion within atherosclerotic plaques typically precedes plaque disruption (rupture and/or erosion) and thrombosis--often the terminal events of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. To elucidate the mechanisms of these events, the atherosclerotic rabbit model provides a unique and powerful tool that facilitates studies of atherogenesis starting with plaque buildup to eventual disruption. Examination of human coronary arteries obtained from patients who died with myocardial infarction demonstrates evidence of cholesterol crystals perforating the plaque cap and intimal surface of the arterial wall that can lead to rupture.