Cellular and molecular biology
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Cell. Mol. Biol. (Noisy-le-grand) · Dec 1998
Comparative StudyAge-related differences in calcium accumulation in human arteries.
To elucidate the accumulation of calcium in the human arteries, the calcium contents of the thoracic aorta, coronary, common carotid, basilar, internal thoracic, axillary, radial, femoral, popliteal, and dorsalis pedis arteries, were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The calcium content began to increase in both the thoracic aorta and femoral artery around the age of 50 years (yrs), in the popliteal artery at the age of 60 yrs, in the coronary, basilar and dorsalis pedis arteries at the age of 70 yrs, and in the common carotid artery at the age of 80 yrs. In the same time, the calcium content did not increase significantly in the internal thoracic and radial arteries. ⋯ With regard to the femoral artery, the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus occurred only in the tunica media, only in the tunica intima, or in both the tunicae media and intima. Therefore, the manner of accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral-arterial wall was different from that in the aortic wall. Comparing the upper and lower limb arteries, the calcium content was found to be higher in the femoral, popliteal, and dorsalis pedis arteries of the lower limb than that of the axillary and radial arteries of the upper limb.