title: Choosing hamsters but not rats as a model for studying plasma cholesterol-lowering activity of functional foods.
abstract: Rats and hamsters are commonly used rodents to test the efficacy of cholesterol-lowering functional foods. In general, a diet containing 1% cholesterol for rats whereas a diet containing 0.1% cholesterol for hamsters is used to induce the hypercholesterolemia. The present study was carried out to compare hamsters with rats as a hypercholesterolemia model. Golden Syrian hamsters and Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups and fed one of the four diets containing 0-0.9% cholesterol. Results demonstrated that serum total cholesterol (TC) in hamsters was raised 73-81% higher than that in rats fed the same cholesterol diets. Unlike rats in which HDL-C accounted very little for serum TC, the lipoprotein profile in hamsters was closer to that in humans. We investigated interaction of higher cholesterol diets with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutary-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase, low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) and cholesterol-7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1), sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP-2), and liver X receptor (LXR-alpha). Results showed hamsters and rats metabolized cholesterol differently. In view that hamsters synthesize and excrete cholesterol and bile acids in a manner similar to that in humans, it is concluded that hamsters but not rats shall be chosen as a model to study efficacy of cholesterol-lowering functional foods.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Zesheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yin Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Venus Sai Ying
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhen-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002790:Cholesterol 7-alpha-Hydroxylase / Q000032:analysis; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D006903:Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases / Q000235:genetics; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000628:therapy*; D008647:Mesocricetus; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011973:Receptors, LDL / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D002785:Sterol O-Acyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D051782:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 2 / Q000235:genetics; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D011973:Receptors, LDL; D051782:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 2; D014280:Triglycerides; D006903:Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases; C532838:CYP7A1 protein, rat; D002790:Cholesterol 7-alpha-Hydroxylase; D002785:Sterol O-Acyltransferase