Failure of carbon disulfide and levothyroxine to modify the cardiovascular response of rabbits to a high-cholesterol diet.
Exposure of rabbits for 12 weeks to 300 ppm carbon disulfide (CS2) for 6 h/day, 5 days/week, or to 25 mg/day of thiourea or 2% cholesterol in the diet, or to any combination thereof caused a significant reduction in the concentration of serum thyroxine (T4). The reduction of the concentration of serum T4 in rabbits by the treatments was completely offset by the inclusion of 0.1 mg/day of sodium levothyroxine in the diet. Ingestion of feed containing 2% cholesterol significantly increased the degree of atherosclerosis present in the aortic arch and significantly increased the oil red O positive lipid present in the heart and the aorta, with the aortic arch being the most severely affected. The response of the aorta and the heart to the 2% cholesterol diet was not significantly modified by concurrent exposure to CS2 by inhalation or by treatment with thiourea, a metabolite of CS2. We found no evidence that the development of cardiovascular lesions induced by a 2% cholesterol diet in rabbits was mediated by a mechanism involving a component of hypothyroidism.
D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000473:pathology; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D001391:Azo Compounds; D002246:Carbon Disulfide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D013890:Thiourea / Q000494:pharmacology; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*
D001391:Azo Compounds; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D002784:Cholesterol; C011049:oil red O; D013890:Thiourea; D013974:Thyroxine; D002246:Carbon Disulfide