Adverse Impact of Diet-Induced Hypercholesterolemia on Cardiovascular Tissue Homeostasis in a Rabbit Model: Time-Dependent Changes in Cardiac Parameters

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Attila Kertész²  Mariann Bombicz³  Daniel Priksz³  Jozsef Balla¹  Gyorgy Balla¹  Rudolf Gesztelyi³  Balazs Varga³  David D. Haines³  Arpad Tosaki³ 

[1] MTA-DE Vascular Biology, Thrombosis and Hemostasis Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, Debrecen 4032, Hungary; E-Mails:;Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, Debrecen 4032, Hungary; E-Mail:;Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, Debrecen 4032, Hungary; E-Mails:

关键词: hypercholesterolemic rabbit;    cardiac parameters;    echocardiography;    heme-oxygenase;    cytochrome oxidase;    VEGF;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms140919086

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The present study evaluates a hypothesis that diet-related hypercholesterolemia increases oxidative stress-related burden to cardiovascular tissue, resulting in progressively increased mortality, along with deterioration of electrophysiological and enzymatic function in rabbit myocardium. New Zealand white rabbits were divided into four groups, defined as follows: GROUP I, cholesterol-free rabbit chow for 12 weeks; GROUP II, cholesterol-free chow, 40 weeks; GROUP III, chow supplemented with 2% cholesterol, 12 weeks; GROUP IV, chow supplemented with 2% cholesterol, 40 weeks. At the 12 and 40 weeks time points, animals in each of the aforementioned cohorts were subjected to echocardiographic measurements, followed by sacrifice. Significant deterioration in major outcome variables measured in the present study were observed only in animals maintained for 40 weeks on 2% cholesterol-supplemented chow, with much lesser adverse effects noted in animals fed high cholesterol diets for only 12 weeks. It was observed that rabbits receiving high cholesterol diets for 40 weeks exhibited significantly increased mortality, worsened ejection fraction and general deterioration of cardiac functions, along with increased atherosclerotic plaque formation and infarct size. Additionally, myocardium of GROUP IV animals was observed to contain lower levels of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and cytochrome c oxidase III (COX III) protein relative to the controls.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland