Abstract
The following experiments were done to test the possibility of the production of atheroma of the aorta in guinea pigs by cholesterol feeding, and also to test certain theories which have been advanced as to the importance of factors, other than the cholesterol, in the production of this type of atheroma.
Four guinea pigs were fed on daily doses of 0.1 to 0.5 gm. of cholesterol dissolved in cotton seed oil for periods of 18 to 72 days. These animals, like rabbits similarly fed, show an enlargement of the adrenals, and an abundant deposit of anisotropic fat in the liver and spleen, the situation of this fat being similar to that previously described in these organs in the rabbit. An occasional guinea pig in this and the following experiments showed focal areas of degeneration in the cortex of the adrenal with a deposit of calcium. The aortas show no gross lesions. Microscopically there are found small patches of fatty infiltration in the intima and upper media. The characteristic proliferation and subsequent degeneration seen in the rabbit were entirely lacking. The feeding periods were too short to conclude that such tissue reaction might not ultimately result. One guinea pig which received 20 g. of cholesterol in 72 days (15.1 g. in the last 40 days) would seem however quite comparable with a rabbit, previously reported, which showed pronounced atheroma after receiving 13.7 g. in 37 days. From these experiments and others which follow it can at least be concluded that a longer period and larger doses are necessary for the production of an atheroma in the guinea pig than in the rabbit.
A guinea pig receiving 13.4 g. cholesterol without oil in 51 days showed some adrenal enlargement, but no anisotropic fat could be found in liver, spleen, or elsewhere.
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