Hypercholesterolemia and the baboon cerebral circulation.
We investigated cerebrovascular vasodilator responses to increased arterial CO2 and the cerebrovascular response to infused 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in normal and hypercholesterolemic baboons. After 6-8 weeks of feeding an atherogenic diet the plasma cholesterol levels were increased without change in the triglycerides. The hypercholesterolemic animals showed a higher basal systemic arterial blood pressure than the normal controls without significant decrease in cerebrovascular prostacyclin production, altered basal cerebral blood flow or altered cerebrovascular response to infused 5-HT. However, the vasodilator response to hypercapnia was significantly decreased from the control value of 2.78 ml/min per mmHg increase in PCO2, to 1.62 ml/min per mmHg. Thus functional impairment of cerebral hemodynamics occurred before atherosclerotic alteration in the cerebral vessels could have been present.
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000187:drug effects; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004036:Diet, Atherogenic; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010215:Papio
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002784:Cholesterol