title: Plasma low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration in cynomolgus monkeys; differing effects of age and body weight in animals consuming low and high cholesterol diets.
abstract: It has been reported in cross-sectional studies that plasma cholesterol concentration does not increase with age in nonhuman primates who consume a cholesterol-free diet over their lifetimes. However, dietary composition and body weight may confound any change in plasma cholesterol concentration during aging, as is the case in humans in industrialized societies. To determine if the relationship between age and plasma cholesterol concentration is affected by dietary cholesterol and body weight in nonhuman primates, we compared post-pubertal male cynomolgus monkeys consuming low cholesterol (0.04 mg cholesterol/kcal; n = 10) and high cholesterol (0.39 mg cholesterol/kcal: n = 21) diets. A univariate repeated measures analysis of covariance of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration was performed from a longitudinal data set (monkeys aged 5 to 20 years), containing an average of 34 observations per animal. The interaction of age and body weight on LDL cholesterol concentration differed among the two dietary groups. In monkeys consuming the low cholesterol diet, an increase in age was associated with a small increase in mean LDL cholesterol concentration. This effect of age increased with increasing body weight. Monkeys on the high cholesterol diet had higher mean LDL concentration, but showed no significant effect of aging on concentration. Instead, at all ages, LDL concentration was strongly affected (positively) by body weight in this group. A qualitatively similar (but quantitatively smaller) effect of body weight was observed only at older ages in the low dietary cholesterol group. We conclude that the associations of LDL concentration with age and body weight in cynomolgus monkeys are strongly influenced by dietary cholesterol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1051.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Colvin
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Spray
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL