Abstract
Experiments were designed to ascertain whether hyperlipemia produced by chronic alcohol intake would accelerate cholesterol-fed experimental atherosclerosis. Young male rabbits (134-139 days after birth) were kept on a diet containing cholesterol (0.5%) and lard (5%) and some of them were kept on 5% or 10% ethanol in drinking water for thirteen weeks. There was no significant difference in the increase of body weight and in diet intake. Plasma lipids levels were significantly higher in the ethanol-fed groups than in the control group kept on plain water. The atherosclerotic changes of the aorta, however, were significantly less in the ethanol-fed rabbits than in the controls and even less in the rabbits kept on 10% ethanol than in those on 5% ethanol. The results suggest that ethanol has an inhibitory effect on cholesterol-induced experimental atherosclerosis despite its hyperlipemic action.
