الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a condition in which plaque builds up inside the arteries. The factors involved in atherosclerosis may be genetic, dietary, metabolic, hemodynamic, and inflammatory or infections. Other factors are also emerging as contributing to incidence of this disease.
The most important cause of atherosclerosis is excessive use of fatty food, decreased physical activity, and lack of exercise. Increase cholesterol level is a very important risk factor of atherosclerosis. This disease leads to functional and structural disorders of vascular wall
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory, progressive disease that causes mortality across the world. Inflammation of blood vessel wall is a critical component of atherosclerosis and brings about several pathological changes such as edema, vasa vasorum dilation and proliferation, and immune cells infiltration. The knowledge of the biological basis of these processes has led to the development of novel noninvasive imaging technique able to disclose them in vivo through the use of appropriately designed molecular probes.
Atherosclerosis is likely to be initiated by the activation of endothelium with the expression of adhesion molecules, and this in turn enables the adhesion of mononuclear leukocytes, such as monocytes and T-cells, to the endothelium and also their transmigration into the intima. At this point, the lesions may be present with rare cells such as dendritic cells (DCs), few neutrophils and B-cells, and also with smooth muscle cells (SMC), which transform phenotype into synthetic SMC and move into the intima from the media.