Cholesterol Atheroma in Rabbits. 



69 



egg diet for 30 days, one on an egg diet for 77 days, and one on a 

 cholesterol diet for 37 days. All three rabbits show pronounced 

 lesions, the most notable of which are as follows: 



In the gross the aorta shows raised irregular yellowish white 

 placques, varying in size from a fraction of a millimeter to several 

 millimeters in diameter. In several cases these are thickly placed 

 and may be scattered over the entire length of the aorta. The 

 pulmonary artery shows similar lesions which in one case are as 

 pronounced as those in the aorta. The liver is of a deep yellow 

 color; the adrenals of a uniform almost white color. The kidneys 

 on section show a deep yellow medulla rather sharply outlined from 

 the brownish red cortex. Very fine yellow lines can be seen in 

 the cortex radiating outward from the medulla. 



Microscopically the aorta shows a nodular thickening of the 

 intima made up of large round cells loaded with fat. The inner 

 portion of the media, underlying the intimal lesions, is also in- 

 volved. Here the fat present is also, for the greater part, intra- 

 cellular. 



The liver shows a marked deposit of fat contained first in the 

 Kupffer cells, later in the parenchymal cells in the centres of the 

 lobules. There is here a focal degeneration of the liver cells. 

 There is apparently a slight increase of periportal connective tissue 

 and fat is present within endothelial cells and fibroblasts in these 

 areas. 



The interlobular vessels of the kidney show fat throughout their 

 walls. In the early cases many of the endothelial cells of the capil- 

 lary network of the medulla are loaded with fat. Fat is also 

 present in smaller amount in some of the endothelial cells of the 

 glomeruli. In a more pronounced case the tubular epithelium 

 shows a large amount of fat. 



In the spleen the fat is present mainly in the endothelial cells 

 lining the venous capillaries and in large cells free in the capillaries. 

 The arteries show changes similar to those in the kidneys. 



The larger arteries of the lungs show pronounced nodular 

 intimal thickenings similar to those in the aorta. In one case the 

 lining cells of the alveoli contain fat. 



In the heart there is a considerable amount of fat in the muscle 

 cells. The fibroblasts of the subpericardial connective tissue and 



