The complementary interaction of epidemiological and experimental animal studies: a key foundation of the preventive...

This overview will examine the contributions made by animal models of atherosclerosis to our understanding of its pathogenesis and will describe the principles for prevention of this disease process. In addition, some of the recent biochemical and cell biological discoveries, many utilizing animal cells and animal lipoproteins, will be discussed. Further, the increasing knowledge brought to worldwide efforts for the prevention and regression of atherosclerosis by the aforementioned research approaches will be reviewed. The results of some of the most promising animal studies of advanced atherosclerotic plaque regression will be briefly summarized, emphasizing the quantitation of changes. The prospects for verifying some of these findings in quantitative studies of human atherosclerosis will be presented along with some of the obstacles to be overcome.