Early atherogenesis in White Carneau pigeons. II. Ultrastructural and cytochemical observations

The addition of cholesterol (0.5%) to the diet of White Carneau pigeons induces site specific, temporally predictable, atherosclerotic lesions. The earliest lesions, which occurred after 3 weeks, were small (less than 2500 sq mu in surface area) and were composed primarily of macrophage foam cells (94% of lesion volume). With a prolonged time on the diet the lesions expanded due to increases in the number and size of foam cells, increases in the amount of extracellular space, and influx of smooth muscle cells. Macrophage foam cells in advanced lesions composed 61% of the lesion volume, smooth muscle cells 25%, and extracellular space 14%. Concurrent with the alteration in the constituency of the lesion, redistribution of lipid within foam cells was noted. Lipid in small lesions was primarily cytoplasmic (88%), with the remaining 12% in acid-phosphatase-positive secondary lysosomes. In more advanced lesions, 34% of the lipid was cytoplastic and 66% was lysosomal. The changes in large lesions appeared to be a function of lesion age, because at the growing edge of large lesions both composition and lipid distribution resembled those of small early lesions.