CORTICOSTEROIDS AND VASCULAR CONNECTIVE TISSUE.

ABSTRACT Male albino rabbits were injected daily with noradrenaline plus prednisone and noradrenaline plus saline for two weeks. Prednisone enhanced the development of the gross and microscopic arteriosclerotic lesions of the aorta induced by noradrenaline, but inhibited the synthesis and the accumulation of acid mucopolysaccharides elicited by the noradrenalineinduced damage of the aortic wall. The effect of prednisone on the aortic acid mucopolysaccharides reflects an inhibition of repair processes in the arterial wall. The enhancement of the arteriosclerosis may be explained by a decrease in the resistance of the aortic wall to mechanical trauma, possibly as a consequence of the effects of prednisone on the arterial mucopolysaccharides demonstrated in the present and the previous study. It is suggested, that the increased liability to skin-haemorrhages in patients given long-term treatment with glucocorticoids is due to an increased vascular fragility conditioned by the glucocorticoid-induced alterations in the mucopolysaccharides of the vascular wall.