High fat diet for induced dyslipidemia and cardiac pathological alterations in Wistar rats compared to Sprague Dawley rats.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Wistar and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats are generally used as models for the cholesterol metabolism experiments. They are acceptable to high fat diet-induced disorders with individual variations, including dyslipidemia and abnormal cardiac pathology. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of high fat diet in inducing dyslipidemia and cardiac pathological alterations between Wistar and SD rats. METHODS: We compared the differences in plasma cholesterol levels and cardiac pathological alterations between Wistar and SD rats of standard diet (3.90 kcal/g) and high fat diet (5.40 kcal/g) after 4 weeks. RESULTS: SD rats fed with high fat diet showed significantly enhanced LDL concentration and the decreased HDL concentration when compared to Wistar rats. Additionally, SD rats showed cardiac pathological alterations such as infiltration of mononuclear cells referring to inflammatory response and high amounts of perivascular fat playing a key role in the impairment of vascular functions. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that SD rats may be the more suitable model for dyslipidemia and alteration of cardiac pathology induced by high fat diet.