INTESTINAL ischemia can be caused by a variety of vascular and hemodynamic abnormalities. One of these is narrowing or occlusion of the arterial system, which may involve large branches of visceral arteries or small extramural and intramural arterioles. The clinical and pathological manifestations of acute and chronic large artery occlusion in both humans and animals have been studied repeatedly.1-21 Far fewer investigations of small visceral artery occlusion have been published.22-24 Furthermore, in the majority of investigations, no long-term studies were carried out. Most frequently occlusion or narrowing of the arterial supply was produced surgically during laparotomy.25-32 Unless special techniques are used, it is difficult to examine a large number of small arterioles macroscopically and microscopically. One method for visualizing arterioles in the wall of the bowel is transillumination. A radiological technique is microangiography by which a radiopaque material is injected during dissection. Both techniques require the resection