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Hypertensive patients are subject to a greater degree of atherosclerosis than are comparable normotensive individuals (1). Studies by Moss, Kelly, Neville, Bourque, and Wakerlin in dogs (2) and by Bronte-Stewart and Heptinstall in rabbits (3) indicate that induced arterial hypertension intensifies the atherosclerosis produced by dietary methods.Most observers (1) attribute this correlation between hypertension and the severity of atherosclerosis to local damage to the vessels produced by the pressure or turbulence of the blood. This concept is supported by the fact that the sites of predilection for atherosclerotic lesions are frequently those of high pressure or turbulence.In man, no significant difference has been demonstrated between the serum cholesterol concentrations of comparable groups of normotensive and hypertensive individuals. In a cooperative study of a normotensive population reported by Lewis (4) very slight differences in serum lipide level were found to be associated with differences in blood pressure. Anselme (5) suggested (without interpretable experimental support) that hypertension was accompanied by elevated serum cholesterol concentrations in the rat. In the dog (6) Wakerlin, Moss, and Kiely, while showing a correlation between blood pressure and the severity of atherosclerosis produced by dietary means, failed to show a relationship between blood pressure and serum lipide concentrations.* This investigation was supported in part by research grants (H-1397, H-52, A-597) from the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service, Bethesda, and by a gift from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.The desoxycorticosterone acetate used was made available as "percorten" through the courtesy of Dr. John Saunders and Dr. C. N. Sullivan of Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Inc., Summit, New Jersey. The cholic acid used was provided through the courtesy of the Ames Company, Inc. Elkhart, Indiana. 581on May 7, 2018 jem.rupress.org Downloaded from http://doi.org/10.1084/jem.107.4.581 Published Online: 1 April, 1958 | Supp Info: 582 BLOOD PRESSURE~ CHOLESTEROL~ AND ATHEROGENESIS Fillios (7) has shown that atherosclerosis can be produced in rats by dietary means. The present study was designed to determine whether the presence of hypertension modifies the rate of development of this type of atherosclerosis. During the course of the experiment it became apparent that the sera of hypertensive rats differed from the sera of normotensive rats in respect to the concentrations of some lipides. The experiment was therefore modified to permit detailed examination of this difference.The results of the present study indicate that induced hypertension intensifies the effectiveness of an "atherogenic" diet in producing not only atherosclerotic lesions but also hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipemia, and an increased content of cholesterol in the liver and the carcass of the animals. These results occur in spite of the fact that endogenous production of cholesterol appears to stop when this diet is employe...