Anatomic lesions in rats fed high fat diets

The metabolism of native and randomized butterfat chylomicrons in the rat is similar

“…The consumption of butterfat in the human diet was consistently demonstrated to cause the elevation of plasma total cholesterol levels, in particular low density (LDL)-cholesterol (1)(2)(3), and was also shown to lead to the development of atherosclerotic lesions of the aorta when fed to rats as part of a diet containing cholesterol and cholic acid (4). Mechanisms proposed to explain how fats rich in saturated fatty acid (FA), such as butterfat, result in these consequences include possibility that saturated FA modify the composition of LDL, resulting in the decreased binding, internalization, and degradation of LDL by tissues (5).…”