Aim To investigate the effects of chronic intrauterine hypoxia(CIH) on endothelium vascular relaxation and pathological change in adult offspring rabbit. Methods Sixteen New-Zealand rabbits were assigned randomly to two groups:CIH group (12%O2,n=8) and normal oxygen group (21%O2,n=8). After delivery,two male offspring rabbits per litter were selected and breast-fed for 3 months. Then they were randomly separated into high-fat diet and normal diet respectively. Thus 4 groups were got as follow:CIH with high fat diet (CIH+HFD,n=8),Non-CIH with high fat diet (NCIH+HFD,n=8),CIH with normal diet (CIH+ND,n=8) and normal control (n=8). At sixth months of age,offspring rabbits were evaluated for endothelium vascular relaxation of the abdominal aorta by ultrasonoscopy. Abdominal aorta was then taken out and observed by electron microscope and lightmicroscope. Results CIH could result in a series of effects in adult rabbit offspring,such as elevated serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) level,and attenuated endothelial dependent vasodilation(EDV) of abdominal aorta (P<0.05). There were relevant pathological changes in different groups. All these influences caused by CIH were aggravated significantly when hyperlipemia was imposed (P<0.05). Conclusions CIH cause impaired EDV in adult offspring,which might serve as an important factor that can induce atherosclerosis. The adult offspring rabbit which have ever undergone chronic hypoxia in utero were more sensitive to the impairment of high-fat diet.