2006, Volume 12 No. 2

ARTICLE 8

Atheromatous Plaque Formation in Rabbit Aorta Fed with High Cholesterol Diet

Zulkhairi A¹, Hasnah B¹, Zaiton Z², Jamaludin M³, Zanariyah A², Khairul KAK¹ & Taufik HM^1
1 Department of Human Anatomy, Division of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang Selangor, Malaysia
² Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abd. Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abd. Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis, the cholesterol deposition in and around cells of the intimal layer of the aorta, has been recognized as one of the main causative factors for cardiovascular diseases. Intensive research has been carried out throughout the world but the precise atherogenesis has yet to be fully understood, though hypercholesterolaemia is considered to be the prime risk factor. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of high cholesterol diet consumption on the formation of atherosclerosis in vivo. Three groups of adultWhite New Zealand male rabbits (six animals per group) were used in this study. Except for one group which acted as a control (K), the other two groups were given 1% and 2% high cholesterol diet respectively for 10 weeks. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were taken from the marginal ear vein for plasma cholesterol estimation. The animals were sacrificed and the aorta was excised for histomorphometric analysis. The result shows that despite no significant differences in plasma cholesterol levels being observed between the groups treated with 1% and 2% cholesterol, high cholesterol consumption was able to induce hypercholesterolaemia significantly (p<0.01) compared to the control group. The atheromatous plaque formation in the group given 2% cholesterol diet was significantly higher than the group given 1% cholesterol (p<0.05), indicated by increased thickness of the intimal layer of the aorta. There was disruption of the intima-media junction in hypercholesterolaemic groups but no atheromatous plaque formation was observed in the control group.

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