title: Atypical xanthomatosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice after cholesterol feeding.
abstract: Apolipoprotein (apo) E-deficient mice were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet for 14 weeks. Mean serum cholesterol levels rose to 37.5 mM. Upon complete necroscopy, massive xanthomatous lesions were noticed in various tissues, with a predilection for subcutaneous and peritendinous tissues, while control animals on the same diet (3.4 mM serum cholesterol) and apo E-deficient mice on a regular chow diet (20 mM serum cholesterol) did not show such lesions. Also, apo E3-Leiden transgenic mice fed a high fat diet, with 60 mM of serum cholesterol, did not exhibit any xanthomatosis. The xanthomatous lesions found in the Apoe knock-out mouse clearly differed in location from xanthomas previously found in low density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice. We conclude that the lack of apo E results in atypical disseminated xanthomatosis, suggesting that apo E has an important role in determining the tissue distribution of cholesterol deposition.
authors.affiliation: TNO Prevention and Health, Gaubius Laboratory, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: van Ree
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gijbels
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: van den Broek
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hofker
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Havekes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000502:physiology; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D014973:Xanthomatosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary