Control of blood cholesterol levels in suckling and weanling rats

The high blood cholesterol and glucagon levels of suckling rats can be rapidly decreased within 24 hours by prematurely weaning rats to a high carbohydrate diet on day 18. The fall in the cholesterol level is much smaller if rats are starved for 24 hours. This decrease can partly be inhibited by injections of glucagon. The only factor so far found to decrease blood cholesterol levels in suckling rats was starvation. Insulin, which slightly but significantly, depressed the level in 40 day old rats, increased it in suckling ones, as does prednisolone. It is concluded that blood cholesterol levels are more easily manipulated in suckling rats than in older rats, and that this is probably related to a different hormonal balance.