A FAULT of lipid metabolism has been implicated in the genesis of atherosclerosis in man and in experimental animals. Since the production of atherosclerotic lesions in rabbits with hypercholesteremia induced by cholesterol feeding,1 this substance has been considered of prime significance in atherogenesis. More recently, variations in the ratios of lipid fractions such as the cholesterol: phospholipid and the alpha: beta lipoprotein ratios have been advanced as possible determining factors.2
At the present time, study of the physical and physicochemical state of serum lipids is receiving considerable emphasis. In several reports Gofman and his co-workers3 have related certain lipoproteins of specific densities, as differentiated in the ultracentrifuge, to the atherosclerotic process. In addition, a difference has also been reported in the clearing effect of heparin on the blood serum of men with atherosclerosis as compared with normal subjects.4 Other workers impute a relationship between large fat particles (chylomicrons) and atherogenesis.5