[Aortic calcification and calcium]

Abstract

Vascular calcification occurred as the last step of arteriosclerosis makes a lot of disturbances on vascular function and should influence on the worsening of the vascular diseases. Calcium is the main component of the vascular calcification like bone, and one of causes of vascular calcification should be the hypoparathyroidism due to the lowering of serum calcium and the following calcium paradox seen in osteoporosis. Bone calcium must shift to the arterial wall from the bone. Medial calcification could be formed under the molecular regulatory control like in bone by differentiated osteoblast or chondroblast from pericyte like cell origin smooth muscle cell. Many substances such as osteopontine, osteocalcine, bone morphogenetic protein 2, matrix Gla protein and alkaliphosphatase were found in calcified area. In intimal calcification, degenerated elastin and macrophage originated calcification were found. In the process of degeneration of elastin polypentapeptide structure in elastin can be easily conbined to Ca(2+), elastin-Ca(2+) complex is neutralized by PO4(2-) and calcium phosphate is accumulated in degenerated elastin.