Dyslipidemia

The Clogged Mail System

Imagine your liver is a massive mailroom that makes packages (LDL particles) and ships them to cells all over your body. Normally, the mailroom has hundreds of dock workers (LDL receptors) who grab outgoing packages and sort them efficiently, keeping the loading bay clear. When you have dyslipidemia, either the mailroom builds too many packages (liver makes too much cholesterol), or the dock workers call in sick (broken receptors), or the packages get sticky and jam in the conveyor belt (small, dense LDL particles). Packages pile up on the loading dock (in your bloodstream), and some fall off and stick to the warehouse walls (artery walls). Mail carriers (macrophages) try to clean up the mess, but they get buried under packages and die, leaving a giant pile of mail and dead workers (foam cells and plaque). Eventually, the pile cracks open, triggers an avalanche (clot), and blocks the whole shipping tunnel (artery rupture and heart attack).