ABSTRACT
Over the past 30 years, the feasibility of atherosclerosis regression has been examined by many investigators in relatively large-scale experiments in monkeys. Other animal species have also been used and some of the studies date from the first half of the 20th century. The primary aim of the animal experiments was to confirm, if possible, that, through manipulation of the diet, lesions could be made to decrease in thickness, thereby enlarging the lumina of obstructed arteries. In an English language publication in 1967, Anitschkow 73 reviewed findings he had reported in 1928 in a German pathology journal 74 and even earlier in Russian journals. According to these reports, lipid-rich lesionsproduced in the aortas of rabbits by feeding with cholesterol-rich food-lost lipid, but did not decrease in size, when the animals were subsequently given low-cholesterol food.
