Serum Lipoprotein Changes after Orchidectomy and Treatment with Oestrogens and Luliberin Analogues in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

Summary: The effect of androgen deprivation on lipoprotein profile and cardiovascular risk in men with advanced prostatic carcinoma is a matter of controversy. We describe an experimental model to evaluate the effects of orchidectomy and oestrogen and luliberin analogue administration on lipoprotein profiles in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Eighty rats were divided into three treatment groups and a control group. Results were compared with the scanty human data found in the literature. The oestrogen group was that which showed more differences compared with the control group, but its lipoprotein profile differed from that obtained in humans. Orchidectomy and luliberin analogue groups showed fewer differences than the oestrogen group, but a non-favourable lipoprotein profile in terms of cardiovascular risk was observed. There were important differences between humans and rats with regard to lipoprotein profile, suggesting that rats are probably not a good model for the study of atherogenic risk