video_2_Cholesterol Crystal-Mediated Inflammation Is Driven by Plasma Membrane Destabilization.avi Fei Shu Jiahuan Chen Xiaojie Ma Yunzhou Fan Li Yu Wencheng Zheng Matthias W. Amrein Tie Xia Yan Shi 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01163.s005 https://frontiersin.figshare.com/articles/media/video_2_Cholesterol_Crystal-Mediated_Inflammation_Is_Driven_by_Plasma_Membrane_Destabilization_avi/6381665 <p>Atherosclerosis is driven by an inflammatory milieu in the walls of artery vessels. Initiated early in life, it progresses to plaque formation and form cell accumulation. A culprit in this cascade is the deposition of cholesterol crystals (CC). The involvement of smaller crystals in the early stage of atherosclerotic changes may be critical to the long-term pathological development. How these small crystals initiate the pro-inflammatory events is under study. We report here an unexpected mechanism that microscopic CC interact with cellular membrane in a phagocytosis-independent manner. The binding of these crystals extracts cholesterol from the cell surface. This process causes a sudden catastrophic rupture of plasma membrane and necrosis of the bound cells independent of any known cell death-inducing pathways, releasing inflammatory agents associated with the necrotic cell death. Our results, therefore, reveal a biophysical aspect of CC in potentially mediating the inflammatory progress in atherosclerosis.</p> 2018-05-29 04:18:35 cholesterol crystals cell death inflammation membrane rupture signal free