This piece is the latter part of Chapter 11 of Stones in the Body: More Frightening Than Cancer (Yoon Jong-won). It is a narrative that contains the author's academic hypotheses, and the body, figures, and citations follow the manuscript as written.
8. Microcalcification / Microcalcification & Calcifying Vesicles
8-1. Front Cardiovasc Med (PMCID: PMC5732140; PMID: 29322046): A review holding that extracellular vesicles (EVs) serve as mediators of cardiovascular calcification, and that calcifying vesicles induce the nucleation of microcalcification / Extracellular vesicles serve as mediators of cardiovascular calcification, with calcifying vesicles initiating microcalcification nucleation (Bakhshian Nik, Hutcheson, Aikawa 2017)
8-2. Circ Res (PMID: 25711438; PMCID: PMC4409143): A mechanistic study holding that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) mediate calcification through exosomes, and that calcium imbalance promotes the secretion of calcifying vesicles / VSMC calcification is mediated by regulated exosome secretion; calcium imbalance induces calcifying vesicle release (Kapustin, Shanahan et al. 2015)
8-3. J Physiol (PMCID: PMC4887700): A review holding that VSMC-derived exosomes are involved in calcification and thrombosis, and that exosome secretion increases in synthetic smooth muscle cells / VSMC exosomes contribute to calcification and coagulation; synthetic VSMCs show increased exosome release (Kapustin, Shanahan 2016)
8-4. Nat Rev Cardiol: A review that integrates and organizes the inflammatory, osteogenic, and mineralization pathways of vascular calcification / Inflammatory, osteogenic, and mineralization pathways in vascular calcification are interconnected (Demer, Tintut)
8-5. Circulation: A study on the mechanisms and clinical significance of calcification in atherosclerosis, holding that microcalcification contributes to plaque instability / Calcification in atherosclerosis: mechanisms and clinical implications; microcalcifications contribute to plaque instability (Doherty et al.)
8-6. Eur Heart J (PMID: 24740885): A reexamination of the pathophysiology and clinical relevance of medial vascular calcification / Medial vascular calcification revisited: pathophysiology and clinical relevance (Lanzer, Boehm, Sorribas et al.)
8-7. Nat Rev Cardiol: A review of the regulatory mechanisms of vascular calcification, the balance between inhibitors and promoters of calcification / Regulatory mechanisms of vascular calcification: balance between inhibitors and promoters (Sage, Tintut, Demer)
8-8. Circulation (PMID: 18040026): A molecular imaging study holding that osteogenic differentiation and inflammation proceed simultaneously in the early stage of atherosclerosis and that microcalcification forms / In vivo molecular imaging shows osteogenesis associates with inflammation in early-stage atherosclerosis; microcalcification concept (Aikawa, Nahrendorf, Figueiredo et al. 2007)
8-9. Nat Rev Rheumatol: The mechanism by which calcium crystals induce inflammation and tissue damage, NLRP3 inflammasome activation / Calcium crystal-induced inflammation and tissue damage via NLRP3 inflammasome activation (McCarthy, Dunne)
8-10. Kidney Int: A review holding that phosphate plays a key role in vascular calcification, and that the collapse of calcium-phosphate balance promotes calcification / The emerging role of phosphate in vascular calcification; calcium-phosphate imbalance promotes calcification (Giachelli)
8-11. Kidney Int: The key mediators and therapeutic targets of arterial calcification in chronic kidney disease / Arterial calcification in chronic kidney disease: key mediators and therapeutic targets (Shanahan, Crouthamel, Kapustin, Giachelli)
8-12. Mayo Clin Proc: An explanation that calciphylaxis is a cutaneous manifestation of systemic vascular calcification and thrombosis / Calciphylaxis: a cutaneous manifestation of systemic vascular calcification and thrombosis (Weenig)
8-13. Am J Med Sci: A review of the pathophysiology and clinical features of calciphylaxis (calcific uremic arteriolopathy) / Calciphylaxis (calcific uremic arteriolopathy): pathogenesis and clinical features (Brandenburg, Kramann, Rothe et al.)
8-14. J Am Coll Cardiol / Circ Res: The mechanisms and clinical significance of vascular calcification in diabetes and chronic kidney disease / Vascular calcification in diabetes and chronic kidney disease: mechanisms and clinical significance (Raggi, Bellasi, Gamboa et al.)
8-15. Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (textbook): The establishment of the concepts of dystrophic calcification and metastatic calcification, the standard reference for the classification of calcification / Standard textbook reference for dystrophic vs metastatic calcification classification