ArticleArteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology2023
Spatially Resolved Metabolites in Stable and Unstable Human Atherosclerotic Plaques Identified by Mass Spectrometry Imaging.
Article in Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phenylacetic Acid, a Gut Microbially Produced Metabolite, Reduces Atherosclerosis Burden and Impacts Host Lipid Homeostasis.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota and Atherosclerotic Plaque Instability: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Metabolic Pathways Linking Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease With Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2026Review
- Metabolic reprogramming in aortic diseases: insights from metabolomics and therapeutic opportunities.Medical review (2021) · 2026Review
- Smooth muscle cell phenotypic modulation during atherosclerosis.Vascular pharmacology · 2026Review
- Macrophages in human atherosclerotic plaques in the era of single-cell and spatial transcriptomics.ImmunoHorizons · 2026Review
- More Than a Cleanup Crew: The Expanding Biology of Efferocytosis.Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2026Review
- Integrating untargeted metabolomics and deep learning approaches to identify specific metabolic signatures and new mechanisms in unstable plaques.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Effects of the active parts of Yangxin Tongmai Formula on myocardial injury and spatial metabolic remodeling in rats with myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Toward Precision Medicine in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Insights from Omics Data into Sex Differences.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2025Review
- Multimodal landscape of atherosclerotic plaques: A spatial omics approach with mass spectrometry imaging.Analytica chimica acta · 2025Review
- Integrated proteomics and metabolomics analyses reveal potential molecular signatures of rabbit atherosclerotic plaques.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2025Article
- Calcification in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Is Associated with Elevated GCLm and Impaired Contraction: Insights into Osteogenic Transdifferentiation and Therapeutic Approaches.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2025Article
- Reprogrammed glucose metabolism in vascular smooth muscle cells and its implications for vascular diseases.Pharmacological research · 2025Review
- Anti-Atherogenic Mechanisms and Therapies.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2025Review
- Proteomic profiling reveals a higher presence of glycolytic enzymes in human atherosclerotic lesions with unfavourable histological characteristics.Cardiovascular research · 2025Article
- Multiomic Landscape of Extracellular Vesicles in Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Reveals Endothelial Communication Networks.Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2025Article
- Haematometabolism rewiring in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2025Review
- Dissecting inflammation in the immunemetabolomic era.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2025Review
- The Atherosclerotic Plaque Microenvironment as a Therapeutic Target.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
17 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundImpairments in carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid metabolism drive features of plaque instability. However, where these impairments occur within the atheroma remains largely unknown. Therefore, we sought to characterize the spatial distribution of metabolites within stable and unstable atherosclerosis in both the fibrous cap and necrotic core.
methodsAtherosclerotic tissue specimens from 9 unmatched individuals were scored based on the Stary classification scale and subdivided into stable and unstable atheromas. After performing mass spectrometry imaging on these samples, we identified over 850 metabolite-related peaks. Using MetaboScape, METASPACE, and Human Metabolome Database, we confidently annotated 170 of these metabolites and found over 60 of these were different between stable and unstable atheromas. We then integrated these results with an RNA-sequencing data set comparing stable and unstable human atherosclerosis.
resultsUpon integrating our mass spectrometry imaging results with the RNA-sequencing data set, we discovered that pathways related to lipid metabolism and long-chain fatty acids were enriched in stable plaques, whereas reactive oxygen species, aromatic amino acid, and tryptophan metabolism were increased in unstable plaques. In addition, acylcarnitines and acylglycines were increased in stable plaques whereas tryptophan metabolites were enriched in unstable plaques. Evaluating spatial differences in stable plaques revealed lactic acid in the necrotic core, whereas pyruvic acid was elevated in the fibrous cap. In unstable plaques, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid was enriched in the fibrous cap.
conclusionsOur work here represents the first step to defining an atlas of metabolic pathways involved in plaque destabilization in human atherosclerosis. We anticipate this will be a valuable resource and open new avenues of research in cardiovascular disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.