Trauma as an essential factor in atherogenesis-ultimate proof.

Intimal foam-cell plaques developed within three weeks on the shoulders of cuts through aortic rings within diffusion chambers implanted subcutaneously into rabbits fed cholesterol. Since hemodynamic and thrombogenic factors were excluded the development of cholesterol-atherosclerosis and the localization of the plaques were the result of an interplay of three factors: trauma, a cholesterol-rich plasma insudate, and a susceptible aortic intima.