Science and Technology Daily News (Reporter Zhang Mengran) A new study published in the journal Nature recently shows that there is a link between atherosclerotic plaques and the central nervous system.
This previously unknown "circuit" involves three systems of tissue functioning, the immune system, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system.
As demonstrated in experimental models, this crosstalk is functional, as disturbances to the nervous system affect the progression of atherosclerosis.
Plaques consist of the accumulation of cholesterol, fibrous tissue and immune cells and are a hallmark of atherosclerosis.
When atherosclerotic plaques develop, aggregates of immune cells also form in the outer layer of connective tissue, explains Professor Daniela Canneville of the University of Rome I in Italy.
These aggregates have similarities to lymph nodes, regulating immune responses under healthy conditions.
Importantly, the connective tissue surrounding the arteries is rich in nerve fibers, establishing a direct link between the plaque and the brain, as the new study shows.
In fact, this adventitial tissue is used by the nervous system as the main conduit to all organs throughout the body.
The researchers reconstructed the entire nerve fiber pathway all the way to the central nervous system.
Once signals from the plaque reach the brain, they affect the autonomic nervous system through the vagus nerve, part of the nervous system that controls the function of most organs and internal organs, all the way to the spleen, Carneville said.
Specific immune cells are activated and enter the bloodstream, leading to the progression of the plaque itself.
The researchers define this real circuit as the "ABC" or "arterial-brain circuit."
Like all circuits, it can be broken or modulated.
The researchers conducted further experiments, in which by interrupting the nerve connections to the spleen, the impulses of immune cells present in the organ were interrupted.
As a result of this treatment interruption, the plaques in the arteries not only slowed their growth, but stabilized the severity of the disease.
Considering that the stability of atherosclerotic plaques is one of the most clinically relevant features for assessing disease severity, and that in this study, components of "ABC" were also found in human arteries affected by atherosclerosis, This research has very important translational implications.