LIPOPROTEIN COMPOSITION IN THE ALLOXAN-DIABETIC RABBIT

This study investigates the lipoprotein abnormalities in the alloxan-diabetic rabbit maintained on a standard chow diet. Poorly-controlled diabetic rabbits had elevated levels of triglyceride and phospholipid (reflected in all lipoprotein fractions) and cholesterol (reflected in the very low density and high density lipoprotein fractions) compared with well-controlled and non-diabetic rabbits. The importance of diabetic control in these changes was emphasized by the observation of a positive correlation between weight loss and serum triglyceride (r(s) = 0.62, p < 0.02), cholesterol (r(s) = 0.65, p < 0.01) and phospholipid (r(s) = 0.56, p < 0.05). The lipoprotein fractions of the poorly-controlled rabbits were enriched with triglyceride. Although current information regarding lipoprotein metabolism in both humans and rabbits suggests at least quantitative differences between them, the alterations in lipoproteins observed in the diabetic rabbit model in this study parallel closely the types of changes observed in diabetic human lipoproteins with regard to the lipoprotein species primarily affected and the qualitative nature of the observed compositional changes.