Alteration of the rabbit aorta following feeding of cholesterol diet in combination with sheathing of aortic segments by polyethylen tubes.

Nutritional disturbance and blockage of drainage of the vascular wall which were considered to play an impoetant role in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis were experimentally produced by aortic sheathing previously (Huth et al., 1974). Alteration of the rabbit aorta following feeding of cholesterol diet in combination with sheathing of aortic segments by polyethylen tubes is reported in this paper. The results were as follows: 1. When rabbtis were fed a cholesterol diet, atherosclerotic lesions formed in the intima of the aorta. 2. When rabbits were fed a cholesterol diet with simultaneous aortic sheathing, aortic atherosclerosis was also produced within the sheathed segments. 3. When rabbits were fed a cholesterol diet after formation of intimal thickenings within the sheathed segments, lipid deposition was scarce within these segments. The results suggest that among the pathogenetic factors of atherosclerosis a disturbance of vascular nutrition and a blockage of vascular drainage may be of greater importance than hypercholesterolemia.