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—The recruitment of mononuclear leukocytes and formation of intimal macrophage-rich lesions at specific sites of the arterial tree are key events in atherogenesis. Inducible endothelial cell adhesion molecules may participate in this process. In aortas of normal chow-fed wild-type mice and rabbits, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), but not E-selectin, were expressed by endothelial cells in regions predisposed to atherosclerotic lesion formation. En face confocal microscopy of the mouse ascending aorta and proximal arch demonstrated that VCAM-1 expression was increased on the endothelial cell surface in lesion-prone areas. ICAM-1 expression extended into areas protected from lesion formation. Hypercholesterolemia induced atherosclerotic lesion formation in rabbits, LDL receptor and apolipoprotein E knockout mice, and Northern blot analysis …