Yumi Moriwake

Age-related change of mineral content in the human thoracic aorta and in the human cerebral artery

The relative contents (RCs) of mineral elements in aortae and cerebral arteries from 23 subjects, with ages ranging between 45 and 99 yr, were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The RCs of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in the aortae increased markedly after the age of 70. While the RC of sulfur in aortae decreased gradually after that age. It was found that accumulation of calcium and phosphorus occurred primarily in the tunica media of aorta, and secondarily in the tunica intima. Furthermore, the RCs of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in cerebral arteries increased markedly after the age of 70, whereas the RC of sulfur in cerebral arteries decreased after age 70. It was found that accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the cerebral arteries were 30 and 60%, respectively, lower than those in the aortae with ages ranging between 45 and 99 yr.

Accumulation of calcium and phosphorus accompanied by increase of magnesium and decrease of sulfur in human arteries

To elucidate the accumulation of elements in the arteries with aging, the authors investigated age-related changes of elements in human arteries, such as the thoracic aorta, femoral, basilar, coronary, radial, and common iliac arteries by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The subjects consisted of 17 men and 9 women, ranging in age from 55 to 92 yr in the cases of the five arteries, except for the common iliac arteries, in which the subjects consisted of 16 men and 8 women, ranging in age from 65 to 93 yr.It was found that there were significantly direct correlations between calcium and phosphorus contents and between calcium and magnesium contents in all of the six arteries: thoracic aorta, femoral, basilar, coronary, radial, and common iliac arteries. Significantly direct correlations were also found between phosphorus and magnesium contents in the five arteries, except for the basilar artery. In contrast, significantly inverse correlations were found between calcium and sulfur contents and between phosphorus and sulfur contents in the four arteries, except for the coronary and radial arteries. These revealed that the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the arteries was accompanied by an increase of magnesium in the arteries and by a decrease of sulfur in the arteries.

Age-related changes of mineral contents in the human aorta and internal thoracic artery

To elucidate accumulations of minerals in the human aorta and internal thoracic artery, their relative contents (RCs) of minerals were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.Aortas from 47 men and 24 women subjects were examined. The ages of these subjects ranged from newborn to 99 yr. After the age of 40 yr, RCs of calcium and phosphorus began to increase, and thereafter increased stepwise in the 50s and 70s. In the 70s, their accumulations were markedly increased.Internal thoracic arteries from 16 men and 7 women subjects were examined. These subjects ranged in age from 65–93 yr. It was found that all the RCs of calcium were low, <5.0 mg/g dry wt, and there was no age-dependent increase of calcium contents in internal thoracic arteries.

Age-related changes of elements in the human articular disk of the temporomandibular joint

To elucidate compositional changes of the articular disk (AD) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) by aging, elements of the ADs resected from 18 cadavers were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission spectrometry. It was found that calcium contents of ADs in TMJs increased progressively with aging, whereas the sulfur contents of the ADs decreased slightly with aging. Regarding the content of phosphorus, the contents increased progressively with aging. The study revealed that age-related changes of calcium contents in the ADs of TMJs were similar to those in women’s pubic symphyses, but not those in intervertebral disks and menisci.

Age-related changes of elements in human anterior cruciate ligaments and ligamenta capitum femorum

To elucidate compositional changes of human ligaments by aging, the content of elements in anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) and ligamenta capitum femorum (LCFs) was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The subjects consisted of 11 men and 7 women, ranging from 59 to 91 yr of age. With regard to the content of elements, the content of sulfur and iron was significantly higher in the LCFs than in the ACLs. It was found in the ACLs that the content of sulfur decreased gradually with aging, whereas the content of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium increased progressively with aging. On the other hand, it was found in the LCFs that the content of magnesium decreased gradually with aging, whereas the content of phosphorus increased progressively with aging. The common finding that the content of phosphorus increased with aging, but the content of iron decreased, was obtained in the ACL and LCF. Regarding sexual difference, it was found in both the ACLs and LCFs that the content of phosphorus was higher in women’s ligaments than in men’s.

HIGH ACCUMULATION OF CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN HUMAN ILIAC ARTERIES

To elucidate accumulation of minerals in human iliac arteries with aging, the content of minerals was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Bilateral common, internal, and external iliac arteries of 16 men and 8 women, ranging ages from 65 to 93 yr, were examined. It was found that an extremely high accumulation of calcium and phosphorus occurred in the common iliac artery at old age, being higher than that of the internal and external iliac arteries. It should be noted that the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus is the highest in the common iliac artery among the human arteries examined to date.Regarding sexual differences, the content of calcium and phosphorus in the common and internal iliac arteries was higher in women than in men, whereas their content in the external iliac artery was lower in women than in men.

HIGH ACCUMULATION OF ELEMENTS IN THE HUMAN FEMORAL ARTERY

The relative contents (RCs) of elements in the femoral arteries as well as the thoracic aorta, coronary, basilar, and radial arteries from 26 subjects within the age range between 55 and 92 yr old, were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.The RCs of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral arteries started to increase before the age of 60 yr. The RCs of magnesium increased after the age of 70 yr. However, the RCs of sulfur did not change significantly within the age range between 55 and 92 yr.With regard to localization of the mineral accumulations in the femoral arterial wall, it was found that the accumulations of calcium and phosphorus occurred only in the tunica media, only in the tunica intima, or in both the tunica media and the tunica intima. The manner of accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral arterial wall was different from that in the aortic wall.The average RCs of calcium in the 26 specimens were the highest in the femoral artery, followed in descending order by the thoracic aorta, coronary, basilar, and radial arteries. The average RCs of phosphorus were highest in the thoracic aorta, followed by the coronary, femoral, basilar, and radial arteries. It is noted that the accumulation of mineral elements never occurred uniformly in all the arteries.

High accumulation of minerals in the human arteries of lower limb

To elucidate accumulation of minerals in the human arteries, the relative contents (RCs) of minerals in the arteries of the upper and lower limbs were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.It was found that the RCs of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral and popliteal arteries of the lower limb increased with aging, whereas those in the axillary and radial arteries of the upper limb did not increase with aging. This result indicates that higher accumulation of calcium and phosphorus occurs in the arteries of the lower limb with aging as compared with that in the arteries of the upper limb, and the prevalence of arteriosclerosis increases in the arteries of the lower limb with aging but not in the arteries of the upper limb.

Quantitative changes of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in common iliac arteries with aging

To elucidate the mechanism of element accumulations in the arteries with aging, the authors investigated the mass ratios among calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in the common iliac arteries by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The subjects consisted of 16 men and 8 women, ranging in age from 65 to 93 yr.It was found that there were extremely significant correlations between calcium and phosphorus contents, between calcium and magnesium contents, and between phosphorus and magnesium contents in the common iliac arteries. In regard to the mass ratio, although the mass ratio of calcium to phosphorus was almost constant, the mass ratios of magnesium to calcium and phosphorus were different at early and advanced stages of the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus. It was found that both the mass ratios of magnesium to calcium and phosphorus were higher at an early stage of the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the arteries than at an advanced stage of the accumulation.

Simultaneous accumulation of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in various human arteries.

To elucidate compositional changes of the arteries with aging, the authors investigated the relationships among average contents of calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, and magnesium in the arteries by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The arteries used were the thoracic and abdominal aortas, coronary, common carotid, anterior, middle and posterior cerebral, vertebral, basilar, internal thoracic, axillary, radial, truncus celiacus, common, internal and external iliac, femoral, popliteal, and umbilical arteries. It was found that high correlations were found between the average contents of calcium and phosphorus, between the average contents of calcium and magnesium, and between the average contents of phosphorus and magnesium in the arteries, but not between the average contents of sulfur and the other elements. These correlations revealed that as the content of calcium and phosphorus increased in the arteries, the magnesium content increased simultaneously in the arteries, but the sulfur content did not. It is likely that magnesium forms compounds with phosphorus in the arteries.