Arterial Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a central role in the onset and progression of atherosclerosis. Upon exposure to pathological stimuli, they can take on alternative phenotypes that, among others, have been described as macrophage like, or foam cells. VSMC foam cells make up >50% of all arterial foam cells and have been suggested to retain an even higher proportion of the cell stored lipid droplets, further leading to apoptosis, secondary necrosis, and an inflammatory response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a central role in the progression of atherosclerosis, where they switch from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. Because of their role as risk factors for atherosclerosis, we sought here to systematically study the impact of matrix stiffness and (hemodynamic) pressure on VSMCs. Thereby, we find that pressure and stiffness individually affect the VSMC phenotype.
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