Ultrastructural analogies between intimal alterations in veins from diabetic patients and animals with STZ-induced diabetes

The aim of this study was to document similarities and differences between veins from human diabetic patients and an experimentally induced diabetic a nimal model. The sapheneous vein and posterior tibial vein from diabetic pa tients and the femoral vein from rats were studied. An increase in the extr acellular matrix with migration of smooth muscle cells and endothelial alte rations were observed in the intima of all specimens. These findings demons trate that there is a high degree of similarity between the pathological ch anges in the venous wall during human diabetes mellitus and streptozotocin (STZ) induced-diabetes. This finding validates STZ induced-diabetes in rats as a model for further experimental study to clarify the fate of the diabe tic venous wall when used as a graft.