Cholesterol Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cholesterol, including details on high cholesterol, hdl, ldl, diet, risks.

Promotion of atherogenesis by copper or iron--which is more likely?

Rajendran R, Ren M, Ning P, Tan Kwong Huat B, Halliwell B, Watt F

Centre for Ion Beam Applications, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, MD7, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore.

Iron levels increase in atherosclerotic lesions in cholesterol fed-rabbits and play a role in atherosclerosis. We investigated whether copper also rises. Male New Zealand White rabbits were fed high-cholesterol diets for 8 weeks. After sacrifice, lesion sizes were determined, and elemental analyses of the lesion and unaffected artery wall performed using nuclear microscopy. Unlike iron, lesion copper is decreased by about half compared with the unaffected artery wall, and much less copper than iron is present. Our data suggest that iron may be more likely to play a role in the promotion of atherosclerosis than copper.

Published 25 December 2006 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 353(1): 6-10.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Cholesterol Research Today. All Rights Reserved.