{"id":2512,"date":"2014-06-23T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2014-06-28T02:27:09","modified_gmt":"2014-06-28T02:27:09","slug":"stress-can-clog-arteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/stress-can-clog-arteries\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress Can Clog Your Arteries"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a reason people say \u201cCalm down or you\u2019re going to have a heart attack.\u201d Chronic stress\u2014such as that brought on by job, money, or relationship troubles\u2014is suspected to increase the risk of a heart attack. Now, researchers studying harried medical residents and harassed rodents have offered an explanation for how, at a physiological level, long-term stress can endanger the cardiovascular system. It revolves around immune cells that circulate in the blood, they propose.<\/p>\n

\"Plaques<\/a>

Signs of stress. Chronic stress causes dangerous changes to atherosclerotic plaques inside blood vessels\u2014like the one shown here. (credit; PIXOLOGICSTUDIO\/ISTOCKPHOTO\/THINKSTOCK)<\/p><\/div>\n

The new finding is \u201csurprising,\u201d says physician and atherosclerosis researcher Alan Tall of Columbia University, who was not involved in the new study. \u201cThe idea has been out there that chronic psychosocial stress is associated with increased cardiovascular disease in humans, but what\u2019s been lacking is a mechanism,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Epidemiological studies have shown that people who face many stressors\u2014from those who survive natural disasters to those who work long hours\u2014are more likely to develop atherosclerosis, the accumulation of fatty plaques inside blood vessels. In addition to fats and cholesterols, the plaques contain monocytes and neutrophils, immune cells that cause inflammation in the walls of blood vessels. And when the plaques break loose from the walls where they\u2019re lodged, they can cause more extreme blockages elsewhere\u2014leading to a stroke or heart attack.<\/p>\n

Studying the effect of stressful intensive care unit (ICU) shifts on medical residents, biologist Matthias Nahrendorf of Harvard Medical School in Boston recently found that blood samples taken when the doctors were most stressed out had the highest levels of neutrophils and monocytes. To probe whether these white blood cells, or leukocytes, are the missing link between stress and atherosclerosis, he and his colleagues turned to experiments on mice.<\/p>\n

Nahrendorf\u2019s team exposed mice for up to 6 weeks to stressful situations, including tilting their cages, rapidly alternating light with darkness, or regularly switching the mice between isolation and crowded quarters. Compared with control mice, the stressed mice\u2014like stressed doctors\u2014had increased levels of neutrophils and monocytes in their blood.<\/p>\n

The researchers then homed in on an explanation for the higher levels of immune cells. They already knew that chronic stress increases blood concentrations of the hormone noradrenaline; noradrenaline, Nahrendorf discovered, binds to a cell surface receptor protein called \u03b23 on stem cells in the bone marrow. In turn, the chemical environment of the bone marrow changes and there\u2019s an increase in the activity of the white blood cells produced by the stem cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes sense that stress wakes up these immune cells because an enlarged production of leukocytes prepares you for danger, such as in a fight, where you might be injured,\u201d Nahrendorf says. \u201cBut chronic stress is a different story\u2014there\u2019s no wound to heal and no infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"White<\/a>

White blood cells (credit: time.com\/getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In mice living with chronic stress, Nahrendorf\u2019s team reported today in Nature Medicine, atherosclerotic plaques more closely resemble plaques known to be most at risk of rupturing and causing a heart attack or stroke. When the scientists blocked the \u03b23 receptor, though, stressed mice not only had fewer of these dangerous plaques, but also had reduced levels of the active immune cells in their plaques, pinpointing \u03b23 as a key link between stress and atheroscelerosis.<\/p>\n

The finding could lead to new drugs to help prevent cardiovascular disease, suggests biologist Lynn Hedrick of the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego, California. \u201cI think this gives us a really direct hint that the \u03b23 receptor is important in regulating the stress-induced response by the bone marrow,\u201d Hedrick says. \u201cIf we can develop a drug that targets the receptor, this may be very clinically relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

More immediately, the new observations suggest a way that clinicians could screen patients for their risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack, and stroke, Tall says. \u201cRather than asking four questions about stress levels, we could use their white blood cell counts to monitor psychosocial stress,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Source: aaas.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a reason people say \u201cCalm down or you\u2019re going to have a heart attack.\u201d Chronic stress\u2014such as that brought on by job, money, or relationship troubles\u2014is suspected to increase the risk of a heart attack. Now, researchers studying harried medical residents and harassed rodents have offered an explanation for how, at a physiological level, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nStress Can Clog Your Arteries - IndoGo!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stress Can Clog Your Arteries - IndoGo!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a reason people say \u201cCalm down or you\u2019re going to have a heart attack.\u201d Chronic stress\u2014such as that brought on by job, money, or relationship troubles\u2014is suspected to increase the risk of a heart attack. 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