Atypical xanthomatosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice after cholesterol feeding.
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.
van Ree
J H
JH
TNO Prevention and Health, Gaubius Laboratory, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Gijbels
M J
MJ
van den Broek
W J
WJ
Hofker
M H
MH
Havekes
L M
LM
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
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary