It gains calcium, which makes it harder.įor a while, your blood still has enough room to pass through. It prevents bits of plaque from breaking off into your bloodstream. Your artery’s smooth muscle cells form a layer on top of this plaque. The fatty streak slowly gets bigger and forms into a larger piece of plaque. More dead foam cells and other debris continue building up at the site of the fatty streak. This “fatty streak” is the beginning of plaque formation. As this process continues, it damages your endothelium more.Īll the dead foam cells form a bulge underneath your endothelium. Those cells continue consuming cholesterol, get foamy and die. As the foam cells die, your body sends more and more white blood cells to the area.After the foam cells consume cholesterol, they die.As your macrophages fill up with cholesterol, they take on a foamy appearance.In this case, your macrophages consume the cholesterol. Macrophages surround and consume invaders to get rid of them. The monocytes that moved to your artery turn into cells called macrophages. It’s a yellow streak or patch formed from dead cells at the site of endothelial damage. They gather and lead to inflammation within your artery.Ī “fatty streak” is the first visible sign of atherosclerosis. These white blood cells are called monocytes.
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