Biology, Biomechanics and Atherosclerosis

描述（由申请人提供）：心血管疾病仍然是 当今美国的头号死因。除了过多的 遗传和环境因素，西方人的饮食和生活方式 人口继续对艾滋病毒/艾滋病的流行产生深刻的负面影响， 动脉粥样硬化性疾病在管理方面取得了重大进展 以及该疾病过程的临床后遗症的治疗。但不少 这些治疗是针对管理灾难性的临床 事件我们对动脉粥样硬化病变的基础生物学的理解是 仍然缺乏对基本的 动脉粥样硬化病变的生物学。 拟议的生物工程研究伙伴关系（BRP）将致力于 成立了一个由埃默里大学研究学院的研究人员组成的联盟， 医学和格鲁吉亚理工学院致力于获得更大的 理解生物学和工程学的基本问题， 临床重要性。该BRP将在已建立的合作基础上进行扩展 将基础血管生物学、成像技术、流体 力学、动脉壁力学、心脏手术和介入 心脏病学我们将利用从心脏移植手术中获得的 移植受者提供一个独特的模型系统来研究活体人类 动脉粥样硬化。体内研究将 通过一系列细胞培养研究， 确定的机械力对炎症反应的影响， 在受控环境中的细胞凋亡。最后，安置的影响 临床使用的冠状动脉支架上的机械和后续 将检查动脉壁的生物反应。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States today. In addition to a plethora of genetic and environmental factors, the diet and lifestyle of Western populations continues to have a profound negative impact on the prevalence of atherosclerotic disease. Significant advances have been made in the management and treatment of the clinical sequalae of this disease process. However, many of these treatments are geared towards the management of catastrophic clinical events. Our understanding of the basic biology of the atherosclerotic lesion is still lacking in terms of a complete and fundamental understanding of the basic biology of the atherosclerotic lesion. The proposed Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) will be dedicated to establishing a consortium of investigators from Emory University School of Medicine and The Georgia Institute of Technology devoted to obtaining a greater understanding of the biology and engineering of this fundamental problem of great clinical importance. This BRP will expand upon established collaborations to incorporate expertise in basic vascular biology, imaging technologies, fluid mechanics, arterial wall mechanics, cardiac surgery, and interventional cardiology. We shall make use of explanted human hearts obtained from cardiac transplant recipients to provide a unique, model system to study living, human arteries with established atherosclerosis. The in vivo studies will be augmented by a series of cell culture studies designed to explicitly examine the effects of defined mechanical forces on inflammatory responses and apoptosis in a controlled setting. Finally, the impact of placement of clinically used coronary artery stents on the mechanical and subsequent biological responses of the arterial wall will be examined.