Structural and biochemical alterations in canine venous autografts

Abstract This paper describes morphological alterations and quantifies the changes in lipid concentration and composition which occur in veins transplanted into the arterial system. Under normolipidemic conditions, intimal proliferation occurs in the vein grafts with no significant alteration in the lipid concentration. Under hypercholesterolemic conditions intimal proliferation as well as the accumulation of substantial quantities of lipids occur in these grafts. The extent of the lipid accumulation in the vein grafts was considerably larger than in the arteries.