Coronary, aortic and cerebral atherosclerosis in swine of 3 age-groups: implications.

CORONARY, AORTIC AND INTERCRANIAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS HAS BEEN COMPARED IN SWINE MAINTAINED UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS: (1) adequate food and housing but animals held in test social situations for 1 year; postmortem examination at ages of 13 to 15 months; (2) food and management designed for high productivity; postmortem examination at ages of 6 to 9 years; (3) an outdoor system of husbandry and a cooked garbage diet; postmortem examination at ages of 8 to 14 years.Extramural coronary, aortic and intracranial atherosclerosis was most advanced in swine that were fed garbage. Cerebral infarction (cerebromalacia) also was most advanced in these swine but developed in swine of the younger groups in which it was associated with atherosclerosis of small intracranial extracerebral arteries rather than with stenosis of the larger intracranial extracerebral arteries as in the oldest swine. The lesions of atherosclerosis in swine of these 3 age-groups form a continuous series and are morphologically identical with corresponding stages of atherosclerosis of man.It is concluded that swine can replace non-human primates as subjects for studies of atherosclerotic vascular disease, and that experimental designs must allow for age and behaviour patterns of the species.