Replacing Saturated Fat With Unsaturated Fat in Western Diet Reduces Foamy Monocytes and Atherosclerosis in Male Mice.

Objective: A Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil and nuts prevents cardiovascular disease in clinical studies, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. We investigated whether the preventive effect of the diet could be due to inhibition of atherosclerosis and foamy monocyte formation in mice fed with a diet in which milkfat in a Western diet (WD) was replaced with extra-virgin olive oil and nuts (EVOND). Approach and Results: mice were fed EVOND or a Western diet for 3 (or 6) months.

Streptococcal serum opacity factor promotes cholesterol ester metabolism and bile acid secretion in vitro and in vivo.

Plasma high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations negatively correlate with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. HDL is thought to have several atheroprotective functions, which are likely distinct from the epidemiological inverse relationship between HDL-C levels and risk. Specifically, strategies that reduce HDL-C while promoting reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) may have therapeutic value.

Efficacy, safety and effect on biomarkers related to cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism of rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg vs. simvastatin 40 or 80 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg in high-risk patients: Results of the GRAVITY randomized study.

Objectives: Combination therapy may help high-risk patients achieve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals. Impact of rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg (RSV10/EZE10 and RSV20/EZE10) has not been fully characterized previously. GRAVITY (NCT00525824) compared efficacy, safety and effect on biomarkers of RSV10/EZE10 and RSV20/EZE10 vs.

Impaired lipoprotein processing in HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy: aberrant high-density lipoprotein lipids, stability, and function.

Objective: HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy (HIV/ART) exhibit a unique atherogenic dyslipidemic profile with hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) and low plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. In the Heart Positive Study of HIV/ART patients, a hypolipidemic therapy of fenofibrate, niacin, diet, and exercise reduced HTG and plasma non-HDL cholesterol concentrations and raised plasma HDL cholesterol and adiponectin concentrations. We tested the hypothesis that HIV/ART HDL have abnormal structures and properties and are dysfunctional.

Differential effect of weight loss with low-fat diet or high-fat diet restriction on inflammation in the liver and adipose tissue of mice with diet-induced obesity.

Objective: We studied the effects of weight loss induced by either a low-fat normal diet (ND) or restriction of high-fat diet (HFD) on hepatic steatosis, inflammation in the liver and adipose tissue (AT), and blood monocytes of obese mice.

Methods: In mice with HFD-induced obesity, weight loss was achieved by switching from HFD to ND and maintaining on ND ad libitum or by restricting HFD intake to match body weight of mice with ND-induced weight loss. After diet interventions for 4 weeks, hepatic steatosis, hepatic and AT inflammation, and blood CD11c(+) monocytes were examined.

Increased myocardial susceptibility to repetitive ischemia with high-fat diet-induced obesity.

Obesity and diabetes are frequently associated with cardiovascular disease. When a normal heart is subjected to brief/sublethal repetitive ischemia and reperfusion (I/R), adaptive responses are activated to preserve cardiac structure and function. These responses include but are not limited to alterations in cardiac metabolism, reduced calcium responsiveness, and induction of antioxidant enzymes.

Dynamics of dense electronegative low density lipoproteins and their preferential association with lipoprotein phospholipase A(2).

Small, dense, electronegative low density lipoprotein [LDL(-)] is increased in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, populations at increased risk for coronary artery disease. It is present to a lesser extent in normolipidemic subjects. The mechanistic link between small, dense LDL(-) and atherogenesis is not known.

Pro-apoptotic low-density lipoprotein subfractions in type II diabetes.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that differences in subfractions of circulating lipoproteins between diabetic and non-diabetic subjects exist and might contribute to the increased risk for atherosclerosis in type II diabetics.

Methods And Results: LDL isolated from diabetic (D) and control subjects (N) were separated by FPLC into five subfractions (L1-L5). The fractional distributions of N- and D-LDL were not different, but the most strongly retained subfractions of D-LDL (D-L5) were markedly more pro-apoptotic to bovine aortic endothelial cells in vitro than were the other subfractions in D- or N-LDL.

Isolation, characterization, and functional assessment of oxidatively modified subfractions of circulating low-density lipoproteins.

Objective: Current evidence suggests that oxidatively modified human plasma low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDLs) are proatherogenic and cytotoxic to endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. The present study describes a method using ion-exchange chromatography that is capable of large-scale subfractionation of LDL for adequate analyses of composition or bioactivities.

Methods And Results: LDLs from normolipidemic (N-LDL) and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemic (FH-LDL) subjects were separated into 5 subfractions (L1 through L5) by high-capacity ion-exchange chromatography.