Vascular calcification impairs vessel compliance and increases the risk of cardiovascular
events. We found previously that liver X receptor agonists, which regulate intracellular
cholesterol homeostasis, augment PKA agonist-or high phosphate-induced osteogenic
differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Because cholesterol is an integral
component of the matrix vesicles that nucleate calcium mineral, we examined the role of
cellular cholesterol metabolism in vascular cell mineralization. The results showed that …