Possible relationship of cholesterol accumulation and collagen synthesis in rabbit aortic tissues

Male adult New Zealand rabbits were fed a 2% cholesterol diet for 60 days followed by 10, 20, or 30 days of normal low cholesterol diet. Collagen synthesis was estimated by measuring aortic prolyl hydroxylase activity. Tissue cholesterol accumulation rates were estimated by dividing total tissue cholesterol by the number of experimental days. It was found there was a high degree of correlation between aortic collagen synthetic activity and the rate of aortic cholesterol accumulation. These data were interpreted as suggesting that increased collagen synthesis may be associated with the accumulation and/or retention of increased aortic cholesterol.