Derivation of intimal smooth muscle cells in normal arteries and atherosclerotic plaques. An overview.
We have no evidence of the precise derivation of myointimal cells, either in 'normal' intima or in atherosclerotic lesions. Neither has any derivation been eliminated. Efforts to establish the origin of the cells might be as helpful to our understanding of the lesions as have been the studies of proliferation of SMC, regardless of which one of the various theories of the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis we happen to support.
D001158:Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D006801:Humans; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000473:pathology*