Objective To establish rabbit models of diabetic and non-diabetic atherosclerosis and to study characteristics of their plaques in the aorta.Methods Diabetes was induced by alloxan injection,atherosclerosis was induced by balloon injury of the abdominal aorta and high lipid feeding for ten weeks(Non-diabetic atherosclerotic rabbits received physiological saline injection instead of alloxan).Angiography and intravascular ultrasound(IVUS) of the abdominal aorta were performed to evaluate plaque morphology.Transverse sections of the aorta were taken to perform H&E staining and immunohistochemistry,through which thickness of the intima,contents of macrophages and smooth muscle cells in the intima were examined.Results Atherosclerosis developed more seriously in abdominal than in thoracic aorta in all rabbits.Significantly more macrophages and fewer smooth muscle cells were observed in plaques of diabetic abdominal aorta,especially near the aortic lumen,than in non-diabetic rabbits.Conclusion Rabbit models of diabetic and non-diabetic atherosclerosis have been successfully established.More active inflammation was present in diabetic than in non-diabetic atherosclerotic plaques,indicating a more unstable nature of the diabetic atherosclerosis.