An experimental model for type V hyperlipoproteinemia: combined tween and cholesterol treatment in rabbits

Combined treatment with oral cholesterol (1 g/day) and i.v. Tween 80 (three times per week) in rabbits, induces a marked parenchymal thesaurismosis with hyperchylomicronemia. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels do not differ from those of rabbits treated with cholesterol only. Rabbits with the combined treatment show no signs of atherosclerosis, but termination of Tween administration elicits a very severe atheromatosis. Similarities of these experimental observations with the clinical findings of Fredrickson's type V disease, where hyperchylomicronemia is not accompanied by atherosclerosis, indicate that this is a useful experimental model for the rare clinical disease