Chronic lathyrism. Plasma, aorta and rat skin treated for five months with beta-aminopropionitrile with or without high fat diet.

Previous experiments proved that white Wistar rats, resistant to spontaneous or experimental atheroma, present arteriosclerosis (parietal aorta lesions) and atheroma lesions (fat deposits) after a 9 week-treatment by Beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) followed by a high fat diet. The present work shows that BAPN alone, administered for 5 months, does not induced atheroma; its formation needs both lipid humoral disorders and parietal aortic lesions. It confirms certain facts noted in the aging of man and in the formation of atheroma.