Experimental 'work-arteriosclerosis' / by Oskar Klotz.

  • Klotz, Oskar, 1878-1936.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Experimental 'work-arteriosclerosis' / by Oskar Klotz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    f ftfajZAch ,. E ^ ■ 7 B S' i / ‘ ' -irV EXPERIMENTAL “WORK-ARTERIOSCLEROSIS.” BY Oskar Klotz, M.D., (From the Pathological Laboratory of the Royal Victoria Hospital;) The experimental work in arteriosclerosis has, up to the 'resent, been mainly of the nature of mechanically injuring the vessels, or else by introducing foreign toxic substances into the animal body. Of the latter type much has been written in the last four years, and it has been shown that substances like adrenalin chloride, barium chloride, digitalin and nicotine, all of which produce high pressure in the arterial system, are capable of bringing about definite arterial lesions. It has also been shown that certain bacterial toxins act on the vessel walls, either by producing degenerative changes, or else in stimulating the proliferation of certain cells. There has been a considerable controversy as to the nature of these arterial lesions, whether they were the result of the toxic substances, acting directly upon the tissue cells, or whether their mechanical effect of increasing the blood pressure was capable of bringing about these changes. Clinically, it has been noted that in the adult, the vessels of the more active organs show hypertrophy and sclerosis earlier than in the less active parts. In right-handed persons the radial arteries are con- siderably more sclerosed than those on the left side, and the reverse is true in left-handed people. Similarly, those whose occupation re- quires them to be constantly walking around and on their feet show the most advanced arterial changes in the vessels of the legs. These facts point to the prominent part that is played by work, in the production of arteriosclerosis, but still the question arises whether in a healthy vessel increased work alone can bring about sclerotic changes, or whether it is necessary to couple the factor with the effect of toxic agents. It was my endeavour to throw some light on this question by experi- mental means. I chose healthy, nine months old rabbits to carry on the experiments. The first animal was treated for one hundred and thirty days, by suspending him by the hind legs for three minutes each day. The endeavour was to increase the pressure and the mechanical stress in the arteries, without employing any drugs. By inverting the animal, the pressure in the thoracic oarta and in the arch is decidedly increased over that which normally exists in the animal. At the begin- ning, the animal did not seem to be worried by treatment, but later