Birefringent Property of Hypercholesterolemic Rabbit Serum

Abstract

Scrum of hypercholesterolemic rabbits, when pulsated for 72 hours at pressures of 300 mm. Hg/0 mm. Hg with a pulse rate of 80 produced a birefringent deposit in excised pieces of rabbit aortae. Scrum from normal rabbits did not produce this deposit. The active component or components responsible for this deposit are in the |8-lipoprotein fraction of serum. The birefringent material is detectable in serum by this method before lipoid degeneration of the arterial intima becomes apparent in the sacrificed animal.