Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model

Macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions exhibit a spectrum of behaviours or phenotypes. The phenotypic distribution of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), its correlation with MDM lipid content, and relation to blood lipoprotein densities are not well understood. Of particular interest is the balanc...

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Hauptverfasser: Chambers, KL, Myerscough, MR, Watson, MG, Byrne, HM
Format: Journal article
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: Springer 2024
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author Chambers, KL
Myerscough, MR
Watson, MG
Byrne, HM
author_facet Chambers, KL
Myerscough, MR
Watson, MG
Byrne, HM
author_sort Chambers, KL
collection OXFORD
description Macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions exhibit a spectrum of behaviours or phenotypes. The phenotypic distribution of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), its correlation with MDM lipid content, and relation to blood lipoprotein densities are not well understood. Of particular interest is the balance between low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL), which carry bad and good cholesterol respectively. To address these issues, we have developed a mathematical model for early atherosclerosis in which the MDM population is structured by phenotype and lipid content. The model admits a simpler, closed subsystem whose analysis shows how lesion composition becomes more pathological as the blood density of LDL increases relative to the HDL capacity. We use asymptotic analysis to derive a power-law relationship between MDM phenotype and lipid content at steady-state. This relationship enables us to understand why, for example, lipid-laden MDMs have a more inflammatory phenotype than lipid-poor MDMs when blood LDL lipid density greatly exceeds HDL capacity. We show further that the MDM phenotype distribution always attains a local maximum, while the lipid content distribution may be unimodal, adopt a quasi-uniform profile or decrease monotonically. Pathological lesions exhibit a local maximum in both the phenotype and lipid content MDM distributions, with the maximum at an inflammatory phenotype and near the lipid content capacity respectively. These results illustrate how macrophage heterogeneity arises in early atherosclerosis and provide a framework for future model validation through comparison with single-cell RNA sequencing data.
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spelling oxford-uuid:991f1551-155c-4c63-990f-d2c9256ba4702024-08-02T19:36:10ZBlood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical ModelJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:991f1551-155c-4c63-990f-d2c9256ba470EnglishJisc Publications RouterSpringer2024Chambers, KLMyerscough, MRWatson, MGByrne, HMMacrophages in atherosclerotic lesions exhibit a spectrum of behaviours or phenotypes. The phenotypic distribution of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), its correlation with MDM lipid content, and relation to blood lipoprotein densities are not well understood. Of particular interest is the balance between low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL), which carry bad and good cholesterol respectively. To address these issues, we have developed a mathematical model for early atherosclerosis in which the MDM population is structured by phenotype and lipid content. The model admits a simpler, closed subsystem whose analysis shows how lesion composition becomes more pathological as the blood density of LDL increases relative to the HDL capacity. We use asymptotic analysis to derive a power-law relationship between MDM phenotype and lipid content at steady-state. This relationship enables us to understand why, for example, lipid-laden MDMs have a more inflammatory phenotype than lipid-poor MDMs when blood LDL lipid density greatly exceeds HDL capacity. We show further that the MDM phenotype distribution always attains a local maximum, while the lipid content distribution may be unimodal, adopt a quasi-uniform profile or decrease monotonically. Pathological lesions exhibit a local maximum in both the phenotype and lipid content MDM distributions, with the maximum at an inflammatory phenotype and near the lipid content capacity respectively. These results illustrate how macrophage heterogeneity arises in early atherosclerosis and provide a framework for future model validation through comparison with single-cell RNA sequencing data.
spellingShingle Chambers, KL
Myerscough, MR
Watson, MG
Byrne, HM
Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title_full Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title_fullStr Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title_full_unstemmed Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title_short Blood Lipoproteins Shape the Phenotype and Lipid Content of Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages: A Dual-Structured Mathematical Model
title_sort blood lipoproteins shape the phenotype and lipid content of early atherosclerotic lesion macrophages a dual structured mathematical model
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