Atherosclerosis in a Monkey Model

The disease of atherosclerosis is as old as human history. Shattock1 and Ruffer2 make a mention of ulcerated arterial plaques and medial calcification in Egyptian mummies of 1600 BC-500 AD. It appears that the disease was then as common in Egyptians of the royal families as it is now in people of the Western affluent countries. The disease is responsible for the high incidence of coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction, cerebral thrombosis, renal hypertension and peripheral arteriopathy producing gangrene. The global incidence of this disease has called for extensive research involving epidemiologic, clinical, biochemical, biophysical, physiological and pathological studies which have yielded valuable information about its aetiological and pathogenetic factors.3–9