Vascular calcification is a characteristic feature of aging, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, and end-stage renal disease. The use of organ culture provides complementary information that may bridge the gap between traditional cell culture and animal models, and establishes easily controlled experimental conditions. Therefore, we investigated whether organ culture of the aorta could be used ...

Vascular calcification in coronary artery disease is gaining importance, both in scientific research and in clinical and imaging applications. The calcified plaque is considered the most relevant form of atherosclerosis within the coronary artery tree and is frequently a challenge for percutaneous intervention. Recent studies showed that plaque calcification is dynamic and is strictly related t...

Ideal pre-HD Ca levels seem to be invalid (because serum Ca concentration tend to decline with higher serum P concentration) compared to P and Ca–P product. High levels of these parameters are well known to be associated with higher rate of vascular calcification, cardiovasucular events and death [3–5]. However, hypercalcemia is well known as one of the risk factors for vascular calcification, ...

Sir, The term calciphylaxis, coined by Seyle in 1962 (1), traditionally describes an uncommon entity that usually presents with cutaneous necrosis due to small vessel calcification. As the original concept regarding risk factors for the disease has changed considerably in the past few years, we have recently suggested the term ‘cutaneous vascular calcification’ for this pathology, based on the ...

Chronic renal failure is complicated by high cardiovascular mortality. One key contributor to this mortality is vascular calcification, for which no therapy currently exists. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 is an essential renal morphogen that maintains renal tubular differentiation in the adult and is downregulated in renal failure. Several studies have demonstrated its efficacy in treating vario...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease, which is due in part to progressive vascular calcification, is the leading cause of death among patients with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) on dialysis. A role for vitamin K in the prevention of vascular calcification is plausible based on the presence of vitamin K dependent proteins in vascular tissue, including matrix gla protein (MGP). Evidence from anima...

Cardiovascular calcification was originally considered a passive, degenerative process, however with the advance of cellular and molecular biology techniques it is now appreciated that ectopic calcification is an active biological process. Vascular calcification is the most common form of ectopic calcification, and aging as well as specific disease states such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, and ...

BACKGROUND Vascular calcification accompanying chronic kidney disease increases the mortality and morbidity associated with cardiovascular disorders, but no effective therapy is available. We hypothesized that glycosaminoglycans may contribute to osteoblastic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells during vascular calcification. METHODS AND RESULTS We used exostosin-like glycosyltranf...

As doenças cardiovasculares (DCV) constituem a principal causa de mortalidade em pacientes com doença renal crônica (DRC).1 O risco de óbito por DCV nessa população chega a ser 10 a 30 vezes maior que aquele observado na população geral. Esse aumento da mortalidade também ocorre em pacientes nos estágios precoces da DRC,2 assim como naqueles submetidos a transplante renal.3 A alta prevalência d...

Soft-tissue calcification is a prominent feature in both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and experimental Klotho deficiency, but whether Klotho deficiency is responsible for the calcification in CKD is unknown. Here, wild-type mice with CKD had very low renal, plasma, and urinary levels of Klotho. In humans, we observed a graded reduction in urinary Klotho starting at an early stage of CKD and pro...