Abstract
Summary
Concentrations of cholesterol and phospholipid in plasma lipoproteins, rates of cholesterol influx into the aortic wall, and concentration of cholesterol in the aorta have been measured in rats with hypercholesterolemia induced by diet or by experimental nephrosis. Nephrotic hypercholesterolemia was due primarily to an increase in the lipoproteins of density < 1.006; the cholesterol/phospholipid ratio was moderately increased in this fraction and in the fraction of density 1.006–1.063. Mild dietary hypercholesterolemia was associated with an increase in the latter fraction and with marked increases in the C/P ratio of the low and very low density fractions. Severe dietary hypercholesterolemia was due to increases in all fractions though the major increase was still in the fraction of density 1.006–1.063. The rate of cholesterol influx was most closely related to the concentration of cholesterol in this fraction. Among animals with dietary hypercholesterolemia, there was a significant relation between influx rate and aortic cholesterol concentration; in nephrosis, aortic cholesterol was higher than in animals with comparable influx rates produced by dietary means.
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