A mechanism for lipid accumulation and central necrosis in fibrous plaques.

This is a step section study of 3 fibrous plaques from the abdominal aorta of an ostrich. The distribution of gelatinous like lesions in these plaques suggested that the gelatinous lesions were formed by the influx of plasma at the plaque shoulders. Two gelatinous lesions extended like tunnels into the center of one of the plaques. The presence of focal necrosis and large cholesterol crystals in one of these gelatinous tunnels deep within the plaque suggested that gelatinous lesions might represent one mechanism by which fibrous plaques are converted to atheromatous plaques.