Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Macrophages With Dying Heart Cells, Shannon Alexander

CURCE Annual Undergraduate Conference

Cardiovascular disease involves degraded or dying cells, caused from myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. When cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells, do not receive a high supply of nutrients and oxygenated blood, proper heart functioning is affected, resulting in MI. One cause of this is atherosclerosis. This is a disease when the arterial lumen becomes narrowed due to plaque build-up. Plaque forms when fat, cholesterol, protein, calcium, and white blood cell deposits gradually build up in the inner artery walls, which progressively impedes the arterial blood flow supply, eventually causing organ cell death. The lipids, and most especially …