Nuclear microscopy of atherosclerotic tissue

Abstract

Of the many proposed coronary disease risk factors, the link between heart disease and stored iron has been the subject of recent interest. Samples of proximal thoracic aorta were taken from rabbits fed with 1% cholesterol for 12 weeks, and also from control animals. Unstained freeze dried sections were scanned using the nuclear microscope at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and results indicate that there is an eightfold increase in iron (from 12 ppm to 90 ppm) within the atherosclerotic lesion compared with normal tissue. This result adds weight to the theory that iron may act as a factor in the oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which induces the formation of foam cells, characteristic of early atherosclerotic lesions. © 1995.