Comparison of atherosclerosis between ApoE and LDL-R knockout mice in different diet by vivo ultrasound biomicroscopy / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the different change in atherosclerosis between apolipoprotein E knockout ( ApoE-/-) mice and low density lipoprotein receptor knockout ( LDL-R-/-) mice in different diet by vivo ultrasound biomicroscopy(UBM) . Methods Thirty-two 8 weeks age ApoE-/- mice and twenty-eight 20 weeks age LDL-R-/- mice were selected ,and each mouse model were divided into four groups randomly according to weight . Two groups of each model were fed with normal diet for 8 weeks and 16 weeks respectively as general groups ,and two other groups were fed with west diet as high-fat groups . Intima-media thickness ( IM T ) in the aortic root of all groups were assessed by Vevo 770 UBM , and all measurementsofUBMwerecomparedwithhistopathologyandblood-fat.Results ①Thickenwallor plaque in aortic root showed by UBM and histopathology could be found in ApoE-/- mice in all diet conditions ,but the changes in LDL-R-/- mice only could be found in high-fat diet conditions;② IM T of ApoE-/- mice measured in histopathology were significantly higher than LDL-R-/- mice in all diet condition ( P<0 .05) ,but in UBM ,the IMT of ApoE-/- mice showed significantly higher than that of LDL-R-/- mice only in general diet groups and 8 weeks high-fat diet group ( P <0 .05) ;③In blood-fat ,the total cholesterol ( TC) in ApoE-/- mice were significantly higher than that of LDL-R-/- mice in all diet conditions ( P <0 .05) . But triglyceride ( TG) was higher only in general diet when it was compared between ApoE-/- mice and LDL-R-/- mice . Conclusions It is recommend to select ApoE-/- mice as animal model in atherosclerosis study rather than LDL-R-/- mice ,because the higher serum TC and higher susceptible of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice . The west diet is necessary if LDL-R-/- mice was used to atherosclerosis study .