Atherosclerosis Is Alzheimer's Disease of Blood Vessels, Study Suggests (IMAGE)
Caption
In atherosclerosis, plaque builds up on the inner walls of arteries that deliver blood to the body. Studying mice and tissue samples from the arteries of patients, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest this accumulation is driven, at least in part, by processes similar to the plaque formation implicated in brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The image shows a cross section of a mouse aorta, the main artery in the body, with a large plaque. Red lines near the top are the wall of the aorta. The plaque contains a dysfunctional buildup of immune cells called macrophages (pink) and protein waste (green).
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I. Sergin
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