Animal Model of Atherosclerosis Experimental Atherosclerosis in the Chicken Animal Model

Abstract

Feeding trials of various atherogenic regimes in chicks revealed a high susceptibility to atherosclerosis as evidenced by the presence of lipid deposition in fibroblast-like cells of the ascending and thoracic aorta, and spontaneous plaque formation in the muscular type abdominal aorta. Chickens are convenient and economical to use for evaluating dietary atherosclerosis factors. Dietary fat is one important factor which influences lipid metabolism, and the atherogenecity of peroxidized lipids and trans-fatty acids were discussed briefly. One aspect of our work involved a study of the DeKalb strain of White Leghorn chicken which has a mutant gene that causes restricted ovulation. Hyperestrogenemia and hyperlipidemia were more severe in the mutant non-layers than in the layers. Coincidentally, many foam cells and non-foam cell type degenerated cells were observed in the coronary arteries and aortas of non-layers.Non-layers also had higher plasma and aortic MDA values than the layers, which was suggestive of an accelerated lipid oxidation mechanism. The feeding trials of sex hormones and oxygenated sterol supported the hypothesis that estrogen and oxidized lipids are important and possibly related factors in the development of atherosclerosis in the mutant non-layers.