PhD degree for Anique ter Braake

Anique ter Braake successfully defended her thesis entitled "Crystallizing the preventive effects of magnesium on vascular calcification".

Outline of this thesis

Patients with kidney disease often develop cardiovascular disease, including vascular calcification. To this day, the development of vascular calcification has been an unsolved problem. Are there factors in our body that reduce or explain the risk of cardiovascular disease and the onset of vascular calcification? In a group of patients with chronic kidney damage, Anique found that patients with a higher concentration of blood magnesium had less vascular calcification. In the study she found that an increased magnesium value in the blood has a protective effect. In several experimental models for vascular calcification, she found that increasing magnesium can effectively combat vascular calcification. For example, magnesium specifically prevents the formation of so-called calcium-protein particles, the specific calcium-phosphate crystals that stimulate the vascular calcification process in the vascular tissue. Currently, blood magnesium is not measured as standard in patients with chronic kidney damage. This research shows that in patients with kidney disease, increasing the blood magnesium might be a good strategy to prevent vascular calcification.

The most important conclusions from the thesis have been taken up and shared by various (digital) media, such as: Telegraaf, Blik op Nieuws, Meer over Medisch and Zeelandnet (all in Dutch)

Click here to access Anique's thesis digitally.