Properties of Lysosomes in Atherosclerotic Lesions of Human Aorta

Abstract

The analysis of lipid-laden lysosomes (light lysosomes) in atherosclerotic lesions of human aorta was carried out by the application of biochemical assay techniques. This paper suggests that there is an obvious relationships between severity of atherosclerosis and the levels of lipid laden lysosomes. In addition a relative insufficiency of lysosomal acid cholesteryl esterase in light lysosomes was observed. Another important change in the process of atherosclerotic transformation was the alteration of lysosomal membranes. The amount of free cholesterol in light lysosomal membrane fraction was found to be very high.In this paper, we discussed the reason why choresteryl ester accumulates in arterial wall from the connection of insufficiency of acid cholesteryl esterase and alteration of lysosomal membranes.