Aortic collagen, elastin and non-fibrous protein synthesis in rabbits red cholesterol and peanut oil

Alteration of the fatty acid composition of atherogenic test diets has been a widely recognized method for influencing the character and severity of atherosclerotic lesions. The addition of peanut oil or coconut oil to cholesterol-supplemented diets has been shown to produce lesions of a fibrous nature in several species. In the present study, addition of 8% peanut oil to a 2% cholesterol diet accelerated the formation of atherosclerotic lesions which were more fibrous after only 90 days than those previously seen in rabbits even after 6 months on a diet supplemented with cholesterol alone. Collagen, elastin and non-fibrous protein synthesis were all increased over control values, as previously seen in aortas from rabbits given cholesterol supplementation alone. However, the addition of peanut oil to the 2% cholesterol diet produced a preferential increase in the rate of aortic collagen synthesis per unit dry, defatted weight compared with the increases seen in elastin, non-fibrous protein or total protein synthesis. Collagen deposition in proliferative intimal plaques was evident by histological examination. These focal accumulations, however, did not result in significant increases in either total collagen content of the whole descending thoracic aorta or in collagen concentration expressed per unit of dry, defatted weight. These data suggest that, while a portion of the increased synthetic rates may be a direct result of aortic hyperplasia, the proportionally greater increase in collagen synthesis in these lesions is attributable to the addition of peanut oil to the atherogenic diet. Although the lesions produced in this experiment lacked the overt fibrosis seen in man and in some forms of experimentally induced atherosclerosis, the relative synthetic rates of collagen, elastin and nonfibrous protein described here suggest that even a small preferential increase in collagen synthesis compared with non-collagen protein synthesis may gradually lead to a more fibrous lesion.