Q48 - Vascular Smooth Muscle and Atherosclerosis

Theoretical 2 Real exam question - full text reproduced under IBO's CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

Cell Signaling & Communication Cardiovascular Physiology

The national plant of UAE, Tribulus omanense, is a desert plant containing various secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, saponins and alkaloids. These have multiple potentially therapeutic bioactivities.

Furostanol saponin enriched extract (FSEE) from Tribulus was recently tested for its potential anti-atherosclerotic activity. The model was vascular muscle cells. These cells play a key role in the formation of atherosclerotic plaques when they over-proliferate and differentiate into inappropriate cell types (myofibroblast and macrophage-like cells) when triggered by oxidised LDL (oxLDL).

Signaling pathway showing oxLDL effects on vascular smooth muscle cells and FSEE intervention

Experimental results of FSEE treatment on vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation

True or false?

Q48.1. The oxLDL-induced over-proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells involves MAPK signaling.

Q48.2. Activatory phosphatases play a key role in the cell cycle regulation of vascular smooth muscle cells.

Q48.3. The inappropriate differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells into chondrocytes or osteocytes is caused by FSEE.

Q48.4. Only endothelial cells, not vascular smooth muscle cells, can proliferate and cause atherosclerosis.

← Previous: Q47 Next: Q49 →

Question reproduced from IBO 2023, Theoretical Paper 2, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF