Histochemical Studies of Human Coronary Atherogenesis: Comparison with Aortic and Cerebral Atherogenesis.

• The literature contains many conflicting reports concerning the role of acid niucopolysaccharides and lipids in the pathogeneyis of coronary atherosclerosis. The most notable controversy concerns the earliest morphological alteration in atherogenesis. Some investigators hold that the accumulation of acid mucopolysaccharides is the reaction to a primary deposition of lipid, while others hold that the converse is true.'S Previous studies of human aortas and cerebral arteries' utilizing new histochemical methods indicated that no apparent relationship existed between acid mucopolysaccharides and Iipida with respect to staining intensity or distribution. The purpose of this paper is to report our observations on the relationships between lipid and acid mucopolysaccharides, lipid and elastic elements, and acid mucopolysaccharides and elastic and collagen elements in human coronary arteries from various age groups ranging from fetal life to seventy years of age and to compare these relationships with our previous observations in aortas and cerebral arteries.