Figure 5

Western diet (WD)-fed Apoe^−/− rats exhibit elevated blood lipid levels and human-like lipoprotein profiles. (A) At 8, 14 and 20 weeks of age low fat diet (LF) fed groups had significantly lower total plasma cholesterol levels than Western Diet (WD) fed groups (n = 4/group). (B–D) Graphs showing the percentagewise distribution of the lipoprotein fractions HDL, LDL and VLDL (n = 4/group). See also Table 1. (E–G) Data points for VLDL, LDL and HDL cholesterol represent four samples, each consisting of pooled plasma from two rats. There was a significant impact of diet on VLDL and LDL at 8 weeks (P = 0.000 and P = 0.026, respectively), on VLDL also at 14 weeks (P = 0.000) and 20 weeks (P = 0.000) and on HDL at 14 weeks (P = 0.000) and 20 weeks (P = 0.000). (H) Triglyceride levels were measured at 20 weeks of age and showed a significant difference between the groups related to dietary fat content (n = 16 in the LF and LF + G groups, n = 12 in the WD group, n = 8 in the WD + G group). (I,J) The liver enzymes ALT and AST were both significantly elevated in the WD compared to LF groups (n = 16 in the LF group, n = 14 in the LF + G group, n = 13 in the WD group, n = 8 in the WD + G group). Gluten did not have any significant influence on blood lipids and liver enzymes. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM.