Chemical composition of the aorta, coronary and cerebral arteries of Europeans and Bantu

The aortas and the coronary arteries and cerebral arteries of 156 white European and 280 Bantu subjects were analyzed for their ash, calcium, total lipid, free and ester cholesterol, phospholipid, and triglyceride concentrations. At birth, the various arteries differed considerably from one another in quantitative chemical composition. These differences increased with increasing age, due in part to selective onset and progress of atherosclerosis. The general trend with age was an initial decrease in the mean concentrations of the various chemical constituents, followed by a progressive increase. Quantitative chemical differences between corresponding arteries of European and Bantu infants were slight during the first 6 months of life. Chemical changes associated with atherogenesis developed earlier and progressed faster in the aortas and coronary arteries of Europeans than in the corresponding arteries of Bantu. These differences were not present in the cerebral arteries. The chemical analysis of the arteries confirmed the earlier conclusions reached by Meyer and associates. 6