Effects of red blood cell injections on diet‐induced atrial thrombosis in Swiss mice

Female Taconic Swiss mice were fed a high‐fat (28%), low‐protein (8%), hypolipotropic diet. Some of the animals received intraperitoneal injections of washed, packed red blood cells or physiological saline while receiveing the diet. Mice that received only the experimental diet for ten weeks developed a high incidence of atrial thrombosis (84%) concurrently with severe anemia (hematocrit 6.7). Saline injections did not alter these changes significantly. Atrial thrombosis was prevented in mice maintained at a normal or slightly subnormal hematocrit level with injections of washed, packed erythrocytes.