Ultrastructural and morphometric investigations into the arterial wall of the genetically hypertensive rat.

: A number of injurious agents, including "load-failure" of hemodynamic or metabolic origin, constitute "risk factors"for the wall of a blood vessel. We are here concerned with arterial hypertension, which is a primary risk factor for the production of atherosclerotic change. The SHR (spontaneously hypertensive rat) has been included among the more extensive series of experiments conducted by our research team (STAUBESAND et al.) as a particular model for the investigation of metabolic and hemodynamic "load-failure". The aims of the present contribution are to describe the morphological changes in the diseased vessel wall and to support these findings morphometrically.