Type of natural sugar may prevent arteries from clogging

The new study shows that trehalose may reduce the buildup of plaque inside the aorta. Shown here is the aorta of a mouse, with the red lines depicting the aorta's walls and the yellow section showing the macrophages removing cellular waste.

A new study in mice shows that trehalose, a type of natural sugar, may boost the 'housekeeping' abilities of a certain kind of immune cell, thus reducing the buildup of plaque inside the arteries.

Atherosclerosis occurs when plaque builds up inside the body's arteries. Plaque is made up of fatty deposits, cholesterol, and other "waste" from our cells.

The buildup of plaque can narrow the arteries and decrease their elasticity. This, in turn, can lead to a variety of cardiovascular problems, such as increased blood pressure, coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and even heart attack.

Although it is not exactly known what causes atherosclerosis, there are a number of risk factors and things that we can do to lower our chances of accumulating plaque inside our arteries. Smoking, high blood pressure, and high levels of the "bad" kind of cholesterol are all known to damage the arteries, so preventing these events from occurring may keep atherosclerosis at bay.

New research adds a potential preventive factor to the list. The natural sugar trehalose may have a protective role against atherosclerosis, as this new mouse study shows.

The research, whose senior author is Babak Razani, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO - was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Macrophages and artery plaque

Dr. Razani and team set out to examine the possibility of boosting the activity of certain types of immune cells called macrophages, so as to treat atherosclerosis and metabolic conditions including type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.

Macrophages are a type of white blood cell that helps the body to fight off infection. Their name is derived from ancient Greek terminology meaning "big eater," which is appropriate given their size and responsibilities.

These cells are the largest of the immune cells, and they specialize in "eating" unwanted particles and expelling them as cellular waste.

Macrophages can suck in excess fat, unwanted proteins, and damaged organelles, which are tiny structures inside cells. Then, these "big eaters" break down these substances, mixing them up with enzymes in a "soup" that later gets flushed out of the cell as waste.

The senior author of the new study explains the link between macrophages and atherosclerosis, as well as the motivation behind the research:

"In atherosclerosis, macrophages try to fix damage to the artery by cleaning up the area, but they get overwhelmed by the inflammatory nature of the plaques. Their housekeeping process gets gummed up. So their friends rush in to try to clean up the bigger mess and also become part of the problem. A soup starts building up - dying cells, more lipids. The plaque grows and grows.
We are interested in enhancing the ability of these immune cells, called macrophages, to degrade cellular garbage - making them super-macrophages."