W. Stanley Hartroft

Myocardial Infarction in Rats Fed Diets Containing High Fat, Cholesterol, Thiouracil, and Sodium Cholate

Investigators have produced arteriosclerosis in experimental animals by dietary means for almost half a century. In contrast to the situation in man, however, all previous reports indicate that complicating thrombosis and infarction have been extremely rare in experimental animals. The current report presents dietary regimens by means of which the authors have produced significant numbers of myocardial and renal infarcts in rats (6 of 10 in one group and 4 of 10 in each of 2 others). It is notable that thrombosis occurred before the appearance of severe structural changes in the arterial walls, although abundant fat could often be demonstrated histochemically.

Dietary production of myocardial infarction in rats; anatomic features of the disease.

Abstract Arterial thromboses with myocardial and renal infarcts occur in a large percentage of rats fed a known atherogenic diet to which is added large amounts of saturated fats. Thromboses occur before the formation of significant local intimai lesions, indicating that some hematologie factor is involved. The mechanism of formation of the thrombi is unknown. The altered state produced in these animals is also characterized by marked accumulations of fat in the liver, spleen, lymph nodes and adrenal cortex as well as the presence of large fat globules lodged in the capillaries of the lungs and renal glomeruli.