Thrombosis in Connection with Serum Lipidic Changes in the Rat

Abstract

Addition of either propylthiouracil or cholic acid to a natural diet (Purina Laboratory Chow) enriched in certain lipids resulted in hypercholesteremia and hyperlipemia of about the same amplitude. However, only cholic acid could induce a high incidence of thrombosis and cardiac infarct and a regular decrease in the percentage of serum alphalipoproteins with an electrophoretic pattern similar to that found in essential hyperlipemia or in certain nephrotic syndromes associated with thrombosis. In the rat, the thrombi, located in the arterioles and the capillaries of the heart and other organs, presented a histological picture that resembled thrombotic-thrombocytopenic-purpura rather than coronary disease. This thrombotic phenomenon was preceded by an acute increase in serum cholesterol and total lipids and was accompanied by the production of a large quantity of macrophages, with a foamy appearance, in the lung and the spleen. If propylthiouracil was added to this thrombogenic diet, the survival time of the animals was considerably shortened and the percentage of iufarcts reduced, but in this case, thrombosis was mainly located in the ventricles and the aorta. Under these experimental conditions, both of the hypercholesterolemic agents being used, lipidic infiltration of the vessels was detected but no tissular reaction that could result in atheromatous plaques.