Fatty acid patterns of triglycerides in serum and skeletal muscles of rabbits on a cholesterol diet

: In 18 rabbits a hypercholesterolaemia was produced by a 12-week dietetic load with cholesterol. The hypercholesterolaemic rabbits had increased proportions of saturated and simply unsaturated fatty acids in the triglycerides of the serum and the skeletal muscle. The content of eicosapentaenic acid was lowered. The alterations in the fatty acid pattern are equal to those of patients with hyperlipoproteinaemia and arteriosclerosis. On the basis of these findings rabbits seems to be a suitable model, in order to investigate the connections between fatty acid patterns and the development of arteriosclerosis by experiments on animals.