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Mast cells in human coronary arteries; is there any correlation with luminal narrowing?
1Department of Pathology, University of Trondheim, Norway.
Insights
This study found no link between mast cell density in coronary arteries and luminal narrowing, challenging previous research. Advanced planimetric methods revealed no correlation, suggesting prior studies may have been biased.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular pathology
- Immunohistochemistry
- Atherosclerosis research
Background:
- Histamine in coronary arteries, particularly in atherosclerotic vessels, is linked to vasospasms and sudden cardiac death.
- Previous studies suggested a correlation between mast cell density and atherosclerosis degree.
- These earlier findings relied on visual assessment of luminal narrowing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-evaluate the correlation between adventitial mast cell density and coronary artery luminal narrowing using planimetric methods.
- To investigate potential biases in previous studies that reported a link between mast cells and atherosclerosis.
- To compare mast cell density across different cardiac death causes.
Main Methods:
- Examined coronary arteries from autopsy cases (N=29, age 50-70) with diagnoses of sudden death, myocardial infarction, or non-cardiac causes.
- Quantified mast cell density as the ratio of mast cell count to adventitial area via light microscopy.
- Compared mast cell density with the degree of luminal narrowing assessed using planimetry.
Main Results:
- No significant correlation was found between adventitial mast cell density and the degree of luminal narrowing.
- The myocardial infarction group showed the most severe luminal narrowing, but mast cell density did not differ significantly between groups.
- These findings question the previously proposed association between adventitial mast cells and coronary artery luminal narrowing.
Conclusions:
- The presumed correlation between adventitial mast cell density and coronary artery luminal narrowing is not supported by planimetric analysis.
- Previous reports may have been influenced by visual assessment bias and inappropriate statistical treatment of data.
- This study highlights the importance of objective measurement techniques in cardiovascular research.
Abstract:
Histamine in the human coronary arteries is harboured in mast cells and possibly in a non-mast cell store. Upon histamine exposure atherosclerotic coronary arteries react differently than normal coronary arteries, and histamine has been proposed to provoke vasospasms, ischaemia and sudden cardiac death. Previous reports have indicated a correlation between the mast cell density and the histamine content on the one hand and the degree of atherosclerosis on the other hand. Since previous reports applied visual assessment of the luminal narrowing only, we reexamined these results utilising planimetric methods. The study was accomplished by examining coronary arteries from autopsy cases (50-70 years, N = 29) with a diagnosis of sudden death, myocardial infarction or a non-cardiac cause. The mast cell density was calculated as the ratio between the mast cell count and the adventitial area as seen by light microscopy, and was compared to the degree of luminal narrowing. We were not able to find any correlation between the mast cell density and the luminal narrowing. The myocardial infarction group had the most severe degree of luminal narrowing, but there was no significant difference in mast cell density between the groups. We therefore question the previous notion that there is a correlation between the adventitial mast cell density in the coronary arteries and the luminal narrowing. Earlier reports may have been biased by visual assessment and by erroneously treating several measurements from the same person as independent samples.