Role of oral contraceptive in atherosclerosis

The possibility that risk of a atherosclerosis complication increases with oral contraceptive use was examined by studying the effect of oral pill containing 0.067 mg menstranol and 0.667 mg ehtynodiol diacetate/kg body weight on the metabolism of lipids in female rats fed a hypercholesterolemic diet for three months. Experimental group clearly exhibited higher levels of triglycerides and cholesterol in plasma and tissues, increase in aorta observed to be two folds. Increased hepatic cholesterogenesis was noted with treatment of oral contraceptive as indicated by higher activity of HMG-CoA reductase. Activity of lipoprotein lipase of extrahepatic tissue was depressed in experimental group. Activity of plasma LCAT, an enzyme involved in the transport of cholesterol from tissues, was also lower with treatment of oral contraceptive. However, activity of malic enzyme and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enhanced considerably with administration of oral pill. The increase in plasma and aortic cholesterol levels, increase in LDL+VLDL cholesterol and considerable decrease in HDL cholesterol in animals treated with oral contraceptives and fed with atherogenic diet, indicates that prolonged administration of oral pill may predispose towards atherosclerosis.