Abstract
The effects of clinofibrate on hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis were studied in rabbits fed a 1 % cholesterol diet (HCD) . The plasma content of total lipids, total cholesterol (TC), free cholesterol, phospholipid (PL) and triglyceride was increased more by treatment with clinofibrate than by HCD. The content of TC and PL in plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL-C and HDL-PL) in clinofibrate-treated animals was not significantly different than that in the HCD-fed group. Both atherogenic indices, TC-HDL-C/HDL-C and PL-HDL-PL/HDL-PL, were increased by clinofibrate. The deposition of fatty plaques on the lumen surface of the thoracic aorta in clinofibrate-treated rabbits was greater than that due to HCD. Scanning electron microscopy of the lumen surface of the aortic arch did not indicated that clinofibrate prevented fatty plaques or decrease of the endothelial fissures produced by HCD. The results suggested that clinofibrate did not improve the hyperlipidemia or atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits.
