Vasculotoxic effects of dietary testosterone, estradiol, and cholesterol on chick artery.

Five-day-old female chicks were fed diets containing testosterone, estradiol, and cholesterol for 2 months. Cholesterol supplementation of 1 per cent. resulted in production of lipid vacuoles in the interlamellar connective tissue cells and to a lesser extent in the smooth muscle cells in the aorta; cholesterol had no effect on the coronary artery. The vasculo-toxic nature of estrogen was indicated when 0.05 per cent. dietary estradiol produced more accumulations of lipid vacuoles in smooth muscle cells, more extracellular lipid, and more smooth muscle cell death than cholesterol feeding. A dietary combination of cholesterol plus estradiol produced severe lipid deposition throughout the entire thickness of ascending aorta, and degenerative atherosclerotic changes in the coronary artery. Combined testosterone and estradiol supplementation resulted in peculiar dwarf chickens which exhibited increased vascular smooth muscle cell mitosis and degeneration.