• Yamin Song, Qiang Zhang, Ru Ban, Xin Zhao, Hao Sun, Jie Lin, Tingting Guo, Tao Wang, Kai Xia, Zhenxue Xin, Guifeng Zhang, Xiaodong Jia, and Zhangyong Xia.
• Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, PR China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Feb 16; 103 (7): e37171e37171.

AbstractCarotid atherosclerotic plaques are the manifestation of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries and can significantly increase the incidence of cerebrovascular disease. Macrophages and smooth muscle cells are crucial for their development. To reveal the mechanism of carotid atherosclerotic plaque formation, we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing of the carotid plaque tissue and identified 11 cell types, and the macrophages were divided into 5 different macrophage subpopulations. The macrophages and smooth muscle cells in the patients with symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques caused intraplaque cell death via the mitochondrial autophagic pathway, resulting in plaque instability and rupture, which in turn led to clinical cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. The findings provide new insights into carotid atherosclerosis formation, and this may provide new directions for the prevention and treatment of carotid atherosclerosis.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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