title: Increased early atherogenesis in young versus old hypercholesterolemic rabbits by a mechanism independent of arterial cell proliferation.
abstract: We sought to determine the relative importance of aging and hypercholesterolemia on atherosclerosis. Although plasma cholesterol levels increased similarly in young and old rabbits fed an atherogenic diet for 2 months, aortic atherosclerotic lesions were more prominent in young animals. This finding was associated with an age-dependent reduction in the DNA-binding activity of the proinflammatory nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) in aortic tissue. Atherosclerotic lesions consisted mostly of macrophages, which displayed a similar proliferative response in both age groups. Independently of the age, medial cell proliferation was low and increased as a function of intimal lesion size. Thus, higher atherogenicity in young rabbits exposed to extreme hypercholesterolemia compared to old counterparts is associated with higher activity of NF-kappaB in the juvenile vessel wall without apparent age-dependent changes in arterial cell proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IBV-CSIC), C/Jaime Roig 11, Spain.
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cortés
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díez-Juan
authors.forename: Paloma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pérez-Roger
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Pellicer
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Andrés
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D002465:Cell Movement; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D016328:NF-kappa B