Seasonal variations in severity of experimental atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Abstract

For fifteen years, we have been conducting numerous experiments on the induction of atherosclerosis in male Dutch belted rabbits, testing a variety of dietary fats and several hypolipidemic drugs. In all of these experiments, the standard atherogenic regimen that provided the basis for comparison of treatments was 2% cholesterol and 6% corn oil added to laboratory ration. Although each experiment contained its own control, we noted that the atheromata in the control rabbits varied from experiment to experiment. In an effort to ascertain a possible seasonal variation in atherosclerosis we have collated by month of autopsy data from 74 experimental identical 2-month feeding periods.KeywordsSeasonal VariationSerum Cholesterol LevelControl RabbitAutopsy DataStock DietThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.