Dietary cholesterol, tissue phospholipids and prostacylin production of rat aorta

Male Sprague-Dawley weanling rats were divided into three groups, a control (rat-chow and 5% corn oil), the control diet plus cholesterol, and the control diet plus both cholesterol and cholic acid. After four months the animals were sacrificed and blood samples, along with abdominal and thoracic aorta cross-sectional ring segments. were collected. The serum cholesterol levels, fatty acid compositions in the phospholipids (PL) of the aortic tissues (thoracic and abdominal aorta tissues combined), and the endogenous 6-keto-PGFla (stable metabolite of PGI2) production in thoracic and abdominal aortic tissues were While serum cholesterol levels were highest in the rats fed a diet containing both cholesterol and cholic acid (