Histoenzymology of muscular arterioles.

The authors investigated the dehydrogenase histochemistry of arterioles on 22 muscular biopsies from 14 male and 8 female patients with different clinical forms of atherosclerosis, and in 5 controls. There was a diminution with age of all the enzymes studied. In 3 of 6 cases with pathological lesions (thickening of endothelium, fragmentation of the internal elastic lamina, thrombosis) there was a regional diminution of NADH-diaphorase and NADPH-diaphorase activities parallel with an increase of the reaction for lactic dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase in the muscular cells and endothelium.