Does Chylomicronemia Cause Atherosclerosis?

Abstract

MURASE, T., OKUBO, M. and HARA, M. Does Chylomicronemia Cause Atherosclerosis. Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1991, 163 (2), 129-134 - Does chylomicronemia cause atherosclerosis? To directly address this clinically important problem, we conducted experiments in guinea pigs which lack apolipoprotein CII and develop chylomicronemia when they are fed a high-fat diet. After 6-12 months on a high-fat diet, guinea pigs were sacrificed, and subjected to histopathological and ultrastructual examination. Both the aorta and the coronary arteries revealed no atherosclerotic changes in all 4 animals examined: the endothelium was intact, and neither lipid-laden foam cells nor migrating cells were present within the arterial wall. Our studies indicate that chylomicronemia does not predispose to atherosclerosis.