A Concept on the Etiology of Arteriosclerosis of Small Organ‐arteries

Although there are numerous theories on the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis, almost all of them are based on humoral or metabolic disorders (f.i. hypercholesteremia, etc.), and they have discussed only about atherosclerosis of large arteries and neglected about the small ones. The grade and distribution of sclerosis of the small arteries are not always uniform, and this cannot be sufficiently explained by the humoral theory. Electric stimulation of low voltage was given to the arterial stem directly or to the blood vessel nerve in the rabbit and angiospasm of the peripheral portion of the artery was ascertainedunder the biomicroscopy. These electric stimulations were repeated for many days and various arteriosclerotic changes, similar to those of the human, occurred in the peripheral portions which had contracted repeatedly. The author considered that repeated contractioncan be one of the important genetic factors of sclerosis of small arteries and the different distribution of arteriolosclerosis in the human body can be explained by local or individual difference in grade or frequency of angiospasm. ACTA PATH. JAP. 18 183–89, 1968.