Influence of diabetes on arteriosclerosis

The cholesterol contents of the posterior cerebral, subclavian, left common carotid, coronary, superior mesenteric and renal arteries were determined in 6 nondiabetic and 21 diabetic autopsy subjects. The dry weight of the arteries per length was 1.40 to 2.96 times greater in the diabetic group than in the nondiabetic group. The contents of cholesterol in the arteries of the diabetic group were also 1.07 to 4.10 times greater than those of the nondiabetic group. Statistically significant correlation was demonstrated between the dry weight of the arteries per length in the nondiabetic group and the contents of cholesterol in the arteries of the nondiabetic group and the diabetic group. Relation between the cholesterol content (x) in the artery of nondiabetic group and ratio (y) of the cholesterol content in the artery of the diabetic group to the nondiabetic group could be expressed by the following regression equation; y = 4.303 - 0.558 x (r = -0.843, p less than 0.002). Most of correlation coefficients between dry weight of each artery, or between the cholesterol content of each artery were low. These results suggest that arteriosclerosis is enhanced in the diabetics, especially in smaller artery where the cholesterol content is low, and arteriosclerosis in the diabetics develops not uniformly.