Abstract
Accelerated arteriosclerosis is thought to be a major factor increasing morbidity and mortality in uremic patients. Since there is a lack of definite clinical evidence supporting this concept, the present experiments was undertaken to study the relations between uremia and arteriosclerosis using an experimental uremic model in male Wistar rats.
Chronic uremia was induced by 5/6 resection of the total kidney. Six or eight months later, blood was obtained after overnight fasting and the thoracic aorta was removed, 6 components in media of thoracic aorta, namely, smooth muscle cell (SMC), eastin (EL), collagen (CL), acid mucopolysaccharides (AMPS), glycoprotein (GP), and calcium phosphate (Cal), were stained specifically and measured by the method of microspectrophotometry (MSP). Furthermore, biochemical studies were performed on these materials. The results obtained were as follows:
1) By histochemical observation, abnormality of 6 components of media were found particularly in advanced uremic rats.
2) Increase of SMC, and decrease of EL and AMPS were observed by MSP in uremic rats. There was no significant difference in CL and GP between uremic rats and controls.
3) There was no significant difference in plasma calcium between uremic rats and controls. Plasma phosphorus was elevated in uremic rats. Aortic calcium and phosphorus contents were markedly elevated, particularly in advanced uremic rats.
