Nutritional studies relating to serum lipids and atherosclerosis; therapeutic implications.

Abstract

Most of us in research feel somewhat hesitant about to the many questions on therapy that arise in connection with any rapidly changing area of investigation. Yet, perhaps we do have a responsibility to attempt to provide today's answers for today's questions. This paper is made up largely of questions and answers. These are not fictitious questions; almost all of them have come to us from physicians. The following statements concerning experimentally induced atherosclerosis will provide a background. Atherosclerosis is induced experimentally in several species of animals, including primates, usually only when the level of total cholesterol in the serum is increased. There are both intensity and time factors; the greater the elevation of cholesterol, the less time needed to produce lesions of atherosclerosis. In our experience, the earliest lesions are found under the endothelium of the aortic and mitral valves, the portion of the septum between these valves,