Hyperlipemic responses induced by centrally administered histamine H1- and H2-receptor agonists in rats

The P-407–Induced Murine Model of Dose-Controlled Hyperlipidemia and Atherosclerosis

We are continuing to both elucidate underlying mechanisms and identify clinical applications for a chemically induced murine model of dose-controlled hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis. This murine model neither utilizes genetically modified mice nor a high-fat, cholate-containing diet, although simultaneous ingestion of a high-fat, cholate-enriched diet potentiates the hyperlipidemic response and the number and size of aortic atherosclerotic lesions formed in C57BL/6 mice. The chemical agent used to induce hyperlipidemia is poloxamer 407 (P-407), a nonionic surface-active-agent. To date, we have investigated the effect of P-407 on the biologic activity of a variety of key enzymes involved with lipid metabolism and transport. These enzymes include 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), cholesterol 7alpha-hydoxylase (C7alphaH), sterol 27-hydroxylase (S27H), lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), cholesteryl-ester-transfer-protein (CETP), hepatic lipase (HL), and endothelial lipase (EL). P-407 directly inhibits the heparin-releasable fraction of LPL and HL and indirectly increases the biologic activity of CETP and LCAT. Long-term (> 4 months) administration of P-407 to C57BL/6 mice appears to have no effect on the biologic activity of S27H and HMG-CoA reductase, but decreases the activity of C7alphaH. This would suggest that hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia result from inhibition of LPL and C7alphaH, respectively, while the biologic activity of CETP and LCAT are indirectly increased to compensate for the increased cholesterol burden. The above model has proven useful for predicting the therapeutic efficacy of existing and possibly newer statin drugs, as well as evaluating the potential of one statin drug (atorvastatin calcium) to cause the regression of P-407-induced atherosclerotic lesions in mice. The P-407-induced murine model of atherogenesis represents an alternative to the use of either genetically modified or diet-induced models and may also prove beneficial for the evaluation of newer classes of antihyperlipidemic agents such as antioxidants, CETP inhibitors, and liver X receptor (LXR) agonists.

Poloxamer 407-induced atherogenesis in the C57BL/6 mouse

Poloxamer 407 (P-407) induces hyperlipidemia in the rat. It was the purpose of this investigation to determine if chronic P-407 administration would produce atherogenic arterial lesions in the C57BL/6 mouse, a strain reported to be susceptible to hyperlipidemia-induced atherosclerotic plaque formation. One injection (i.p.) of P-407 (0.5g/kg) produced hypercholesterolemia in the mouse that peaked at 24 h and returned to control levels by 96 h following treatment. Four groups of mice were maintained: (1) saline injected (C); (2) P-407-injected (0.5g/kg every 3rd day) (P); (3) P-407 injected plus cholic acid in the diet (PC); and (4) mice fed a high cholesterol (CHOL) diet containing cholic acid (HF). Mice from each group were sacrificed following 90, 145, 200, or 300 days of treatment. Plasma lipid concentrations, hepatic CHOL concentrations (145 and 300 day), and aortic atherogenic lesion areas were measured. Plasma CHOL and triglyceride remained at control levels throughout the 300 days in the C group. CHOL of the HF animals plateaued at approximately 225 mg/dl. P-407 produced CHOL concentrations of 600 mg/dl in P mice and 1000-1500 mg/dl in PC animals. There was no lesion formation in C mice. However, by 90 days lesions were present in the three other groups. Size of the lesions progressed through day 300 with the largest lesions (184.33 + 27.99 mu2 x 10(-3)) being present in the PC mice. HF and P animals had lesions of 70.50 + 11.35 and 43.33 + 7.88 mu2 x 10(-3), respectively. This study provides an animal model where atherogenesis has been produced with hyperlipidemia induced using a chemical agent.

The poloxamer 407-induced hyperlipidemic atherogenic animal model

We are attempting to develop a chemically-induced murine model for the study of atherosclerosis. Injection of poloxamer-407 (P-407) into rats and mice causes significant dose-dependent hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyglyceridemia. The elevated triglycerides (TG) seem to result primarily from the compound's inhibition of lipoprotein lipase. P-407 also indirectly stimulates the activity of the rate limiting enzyme in cholesterol (CHOL) biosynthesis, HMG CoA reductase. In addition, P-407 promotes changes in the concentration of hepatic CHOL content. These date indicate that the hyper CHOL could be the result of increased CHOL synthesis, as well as a clearing of CHOL from the liver. Chronic injection into mice of P-407 for 145 d produced atherogenic lesions in the aortas of C57BL/6 mice. The response was equivalent to that seen in animals eating a high CHOL diet for 145 d. Cholic acid potentiated the P-407-induced atherogenesis. These data suggest that P-407 could be used as an agent for the study of hyperlipidemia-induced atherogenesis.

Dimaprit--induced neurotoxicity

The neurotoxicity of the histamine H2 agonist dimaprit was characterized. Dimaprit (100 micrograms administered into the lateral cerebral ventricle) induced a large area of brain necrosis 1-3 days later which was uniformly lethal. Lower doses caused dose - related effects on survival, gross brain pathology and body weight. Experiments with other H2 agonists and H2 antagonists, together with studies by others demonstrating a similar toxicity of the congener homodimaprit suggest that the neurotoxicity of dimaprit is independent of brain H2 receptors. Although dimaprit is a useful tool for the characterization of H2 receptor responses, the present results show that this agent must be used with caution, if at all, in classifying brain H2-receptor mediated events.