[Experimental effect of the quality of various diets on blood vessel walls]

In experiments on rats it was shown that the rations containing casein (18 and 5% calorific value) and fatty component completely substituted for butter (30 and 50% calorific value), in the presence of hypersholesterolemia, hyper-beta-lipoproteinemia and hypo-alpha-lipoproteinemia, induced changes in the elasticity of the aorta, coronary and intrarenal arteries. Swelling, separation, disappearance of elasticity and tinctorial properties of elastic fibers of tunica media vasorum and internal elastic membrane were observed in the animals given the above rations during 1-6 months. In the coronary and intrarenal arteries these changes were attended by vacuolization and destruction of the medial smooth muscle cells. The vascular alterations were most early and drastically manifest in the animals that received the ration with 5% protein and 50% butter. No vascular changes were noted in the animals given sunflower oil in similar amounts and during the same period as butter, with 18% protein in the ration. Such action of sunflower oil was not pronounced when the ration contained 5% protein, large amount of cholesterol (1% of the ration mass) or trans-isomers of unsaturated fatty acids.