Coronary intimal thickening in newborn babies and <or=1-year-old infants.
We performed a morphological characterization of intimal thickenings in coronary arteries in the very early stages of life to obtain insights into initial coronary atherogenesis. We examined specimens from 67 infants who had died of noncardiac causes within their first year of life. Serially cut sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Azan, Alcian blue, acetic orceine, and immunotypified for CD68, CD34, and alpha-smooth muscle (SM) actin. Substantial changes were detected in about 1 of 3 participants. Alterations ranged from focal areas with mild myointimal thickening to diffuse moderate thickening. In those lesions, smooth muscle cells (SMCs) showed loss of polarity, infiltrating the subendothelium, mostly with rupture of the internal elastic lamina and without neoangiogenesis. Morphometrically, in musculoelastic intimal thickenings, neointimal thickness averaged 58.3 +/- 17.8 microm, affecting 46% of the internal elastic membrane perimeter; lumen stenosis averaged 13.7% +/- 5.0%. These lesions can be present very early in life and SMCs seem to play an essential role.
Milei
José
J
Instituto de Investigaciones Cardiológicas (ININCA), University of Buenos Aires - Conicet, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ininca@fmed.uba.ar
Grana
Daniel R
DR
Navari
Carlos
C
Azzato
Francisco
F
Guerri-Guttenberg
Roberto A
RA
Ambrosio
Giuseppe
G
D001344:Autopsy; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000473:pathology; D010496:Pericardium / Q000473:pathology*; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology*; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000473:pathology