Aim It has been proved in our previous work that destruction of arcuate nucleus could induce early atherosclerosis .In order to further research into the influence of hypothalamic arcuate nucleus on the development of atheroscerosis, this study was to investigated whether the transplantation of cell suspension of arcuate nucleus into the destroyed nucleus would act on the recovery of atherosclerosis. Methods Eighteen new born Wistar rats injected with monosodium glutamate(MSG)4 g/kg hypodermically once every other day for 5 d were used as induced atherosclerosis model. After surviving for 30 d, six animals sacrificed with their aorta taken serve as control group Ⅰ. The other 12 animals were equally divided into experiment group and control group Ⅱ. The experimental group were transplanted with 5 μL cell suspension (1×10 15 /L)of arcuate nucleus from 14 d embryo and control groupⅡ were given equal volume of normal saline. After surviving for another 30 d, the aorta of these animals were made ultrathin section and investigated under electromicroscope. Results In control group Ⅰ(arcuate nucleus damaged by MSG for 30 d), microvillous projections of endothelial cells were observed on the luminal surface and the nuclei of the endothelial cells became twisted and irregular, but without thickening of subendothelial tissue. In control group Ⅱ(arcuate nucleus damaged by MSG for 60 d), degeneration of endothelial cells could be seen and some endothelial cells had fallen off. The subendothelial tissue was evidently thickened with a few collagnous fibers, vesicles of various size and macrophage or smooth muscle cells migrated from blood and tunica media through the ruptured elastic intima, indicating characteristic changes of early atherosclerosis. In the experimental group (transplanted with embryonic arcuate nucleus), the endothelial cells remained intact, and connected tightly with subendothelial tissue, occasionally twisted nucleus could be seen. Conclusions This experiment indicate that transplanted arcuate nucleus in the destroyed nucleus has notably made the animal recovery from atherosclerosis and thereby confirms that hypothalamic arcuate nucleus has influence on development and/or control of atherosclerosis.