Studies on the distribution of lipids within fibrous plaques.

The present report is an attempt to determine the nature of the circulation of lipids within fibrous plaques by studying the pattern of lipid distribution within the plaques. The material was obtained from aortas from 405 mammals and birds dying in the Oklahoma City Zoo. Analysis of the pattern of lipid distribution in 187 lipid containing aortic fibrous plaques suggested that most of the lipids entered the plaques at the shoulders and circulated from there toward the centers, usually in the outermost layers of the plaques.