Arterial cell renewal after experimentally induced thrombosis.

Thrombosis was experimentally induced in one common carotid artery in 40 rats. One hour to 180 days afterward, the cell renewal in the arterial wall was studied by tritiated thymidine autoradiography. An increased number of labeled cells were observed, especially in the early developmental phase of the thrombosis and mainly in the tunica media. These findings seem to accord best with the hypothesis that the thrombi are mainly organized by smooth muscle cells from the tunica media, which are partly dedifferentiated toward fibroblast-like cells.