Male Wistar rats (10 weeks of age) were fed on each of two kinds of high-fat diet for ten weeks, following the administration of vitamin D
2 for four days. The procedure was reported to produce an atherosclerotic change within considerably short period of time.
Serum cholesterol remarkably increased, reaching a plateau after 3 or 6 weeks of feeding, respectively. However, the amount of HDL-cholesterol decreased below normal value at the end of the second week of feeding, followed by a gradual increase up to the normal value or more. Consequently, the increased cholesterol in serum was mostly associated with lipoproteins of lower density.
The relative amount of α-lipoprotreins changed in parallel with the amount of HDL-cholesterol. On the other hand, the amount of VLDL plus LDL or of pre β plus β-lipoproteins showed a similar behavior to that of total cholesterol in serum.
Liver cholesterol increased continuously, reaching a level of 18-20 times more than the amount at the start of the experiment.
The incorporation of
14C-acetate into liver cholesterol was repressed to extemely low level in the group of rats fed on the experimental diet.
Upon the histological examination of the arterial wall of experimental animals, the accumulation of lipid and calcium was detected as early as in a couple of weeks. However, little corelation was observed between the pathological changes and the biochemical findings.
View full abstract