The Effects of Fenofibrate to Aortic Atherosclerotic Area and Serum Tumor Necrosis Factor-a in the Cholesterol-Fed Rabbits

Aim To observe the anti-atheromatous effects of fenofibrate in cholesterol-fed rabbits. Methods 10 male New Zealand white rabbits were fed with high cholesterol diet for 8 weeks,and then were randomly divided into two groups: high cholesterol group maintained cholesterol diet for 4 weeks;fenofibrate treatment group maintained the same cholesterol diet besides supplementing with fenofibrate30 mg/(kg·d)] for 4 weeks.And control group was fed with normal diet for 12 weeks.Before and after feeding,serum tumor necrosis factor-α(TNFα) levels of all rabbits were measured.After feeding,the aortas were harvested for observing the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.TNF-α mRNA expression in adipose tissue was evaluated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). Results High cholesterol group and fenofibrate treatment group showed higher serum levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol than those of control group(P0.001),but there were no difference between the two groups(P0.05).As compared with the high cholesterol group,aortic atherosclerotic area(52.8%±6.9% vs 76.3%±8.6%,P0.01),intimal thickness of the aorta(28.45±5.68 μm vs 76.18±11.25 μm,P0.05),serum TNF-α levels(2.11±0.26 ng/L vs 3.86±0.33 ng/L,P0.05) and TNF-α mRNA expression in adipose tissue (0.31±0.05 vs 0.56±0.07,P0.05) were significantly decreased in fenofibrate treatment group. Conclusions The study indicates that fenofibrate manifests an anti-atheromatous effect independent of the hypolipidemic effect in cholesterol-fed rabbits and decreasing serum TNF-α level may be one of its possible mechanisms.