[Arteriosclerosis research in the animal model and cell cultures]

Feeding animals a diet of increased cholesterol content gave rise to the feeding hypothesis, and balloon experiments were the basis of the injury hypothesis of atherogenesis. When analyzing the sequence of events in arterial walls during atherogenesis, it turned out that in spite of complex causes and courses of stenosing processes in arterial walls the final results were relatively uniform: atheromas of fibromuscular proliferates or a mixture of both develop. Calcification of the thickenings of arterial walls occurs frequently in the progression of the disease. In animal experiments, the development of arteriosclerosis can be speeded up with various experimental techniques and enables study of the action of drugs to inhibit atherogenesis, as well as therapies for restenoses which frequently occur after angioplasty or bypass operations. In studies of drug effects the limitations of animal experiments become obvious when trying to transfer results obtained in animal experiments to the situation in humans. Cultures of cells from human arteries are, therefore, necessary supplements. Mass cultures and clone cultures of arterial walls are, however, very artificial systems. Therefore, co-cultures of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and adventitial tissue have been established which imitate the morphology of arterial walls. With transfilter co-cultures, it has become possible to produce fibromuscular proliferates in vitro. When oxidized LDL-particles and monocytes are added to the culture medium, lipid-containing proliferates develop.