Issue Archive

Special Topic on Vascular Calcification-Preface

QI Yong-Fen, KONG Wei^*

Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China

Abstract

Vascular calcification is the abnormal deposition of calcium and phosphorus in the vascular wall. It is commonly seen in atherosclerotic plaque, diabetes, aging, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, uremic blood vessels and heart valves. Previous studies have considered that vascular calcification is a passive deposition process of calcium and phosphorus in the vascular wall. Recent developments in vascular imaging and cell molecular biology have confirmed that vascular calcification is an active, reversible and highly regulated process similar to bone or cartilage development. When vascular calcification occurs, vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, adventitia muscle fibroblasts, peritubular cells, mesenchymal cells and hematopoietic stem cells interact with each other and react to the stimulation of internal and external environmental factors, activating bone morphogenetic signals to stimulate vascular cells to transform into osteoblast or chondrocyte like phenotype, leading to the occurrence of vascular calcification. Vascular calcification is also a common pathophysiological feature of atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, aging and other diseases. The stiffness of calcified vascular wall increases and compliance decreases, leading to myocardial ischemia, ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure, leading to thrombosis and plaque rupture. It is an important indicator of the acute endpoint of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and the occurrence of diabetes peripheral vascular diseases, and also a major independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease onset and death. Therefore, clarifying the pathogenesis of vascular calcification and its inhibition or reversal in the early stage is an important foundation and clinical frontier hot issue to be solved in the prevention and treatment of vascular calcification related diseases. This issue sets up a column on vascular calcification, inviting domestic scholars to review the research progress of vascular calcification and report the latest research results based on their own work.

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 孔炜　　E-mail: kongw@bjmu.edu.cn

Citing This Article：

QI Yong-Fen, KONG Wei. Special Topic on Vascular Calcification-Preface. Acta Physiol Sin 2022; 74 (6): 857-858 (in Chinese with English abstract).