Abstract
Three groups of two-month-old swine were fed on basal diets supplemented with either oleic acid-rich safflower oil, lard or hydro-genated soybean oil in order to monitor the atherogenecity of various dietary fatty acids. The level of plasma triglyceride was highest in the safflower oil group and the level of plasma cholesterol was highest in the lard group. The degree of intimal thickening of the coronary arteries was most severe in the safflower oil group and least severe in the hydrogenated fat group. Both the lard- and safflower oil-supplemented groups displayed lipid-rich coronary arterial lesions. The thickened intima of these two groups contained numerous activated smooth muscle cells, degenerated cells with or without stainable lipid and abundant cell debris. Cellular changes were less conspicuous in the coronary arteries from the hy-drogenated fat group than in those from the other two groups.
