Carotenoids in Man. The Distribution of Epiphasic Carotenoids in Atherosclerotic Lesions 1

Preferential light absorption in atheromas in vitro. Implications for laser angioplasty.

“…The results are similar to those of Kaminow (24), Anderson (31, 33), Wan (32), and van Gemert (25). Our identification of the yellow atheroma chromophores as carotenoids supports the work of Blankenhorn (38)(39)(40)(41)(42), who demonstrated carotenoids within atheromas more than 20 yr ago and showed that the amount of carotenoid in atheromas increases with the severity of the lesion. They are ubiquitous in nature, giving the red and yellow coloring of many vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, squash), animal products (egg yolk, butter, chicken fat), and exotic animals (parrots, canaries) (43).…”

Carotenoids in Man. Iii. The Microscopic Pattern of Fluorescence in Atheromas, and Its Relation to Their Growth1

“…As a class, early lesions show little pale green fluorescence, whereas more advanced lesions consistently have this fluorescence distributed through their lipidbearing areas in an apparently random manner. These findings are in accord with the previously published data from chemical assay (1) and provide further evidence that those lipids which accumulate as atherosclerotic lesions increase in size and relative age include certain dietary lipids.…”

“…The 42 plaques studied were of Grades II to IV, according to a published grading scheme which assigns a grade of IV to the most advanced lesions of atherosclerosis (1). Unfixed frozen sections 15 microns thick, mounted in water on glass slides, were examined with ultraviolet light, and adjacent serial sections, stained with Oil Red 0 and hematoxylin and eosin, were studied with visible light.…”

Intracoronary Imaging for Detecting Vulnerable Plaque

“…Histopathologic analysis of atherectomy specimens of coronary lesions from patients has revealed that white-colored plaques are predominantly fibrous and deepyellow plaques represent atheroma or degenerated fibrous plaque with patchy necrosis. 39 Intimal cholesterol in the arterial wall contains carotenoids, which are yellow-colored 40 and likely give lipid-containing plaques their characteristic yellow color. Platelet-rich thrombus is characterized as white material and fibrin/erythrocyte-rich thrombus as red material protruding into the lumen.…”