Fasting is not required for measuring plasma lipid levels in rabbits

Abstract

Plasma lipid and glucose levels are important parameters for evaluating the onset and development of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. In clinical and experimental studies of humans or mice, fasting is often required before testing plasma lipid and glucose levels. The rabbit is a valuable animal model for cardiovascular disease research. However, whether fasting is necessary for measuring plasma lipid and glucose levels in rabbits remains unclear. In the current study, 12 healthy Japanese white rabbits (males weighing 2.5–3.0 kg) were randomly divided into a chow diet group ( n = 6) and a high cholesterol diet group ( n = 6). They were fed either a standard chow diet or a chow diet supplemented with 0.5% cholesterol and 3% corn oil for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, the plasma levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and glucose were measured before and after various fasting durations (8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 h). The results showed that there were no significant differences in lipid levels between the fasting and non-fasting samples, whereas glucose levels were lower after 8 h of fasting than in the absence of fasting. Moreover, the glucose levels were restored to normal after 8 h of refeeding. These results indicate that fasting does not affect plasma lipid values in rabbits but that fasting is important for determining the glucose level in rabbits. These findings may be helpful for future rabbit experiments and beneficial for animal welfare.

Аtherosclerosis‐like changes in the rabbit aortic wall induced by immunization with native high‐density lipoproteins

“…There was no difference in serum LDL‐cholesterol levels between the rabbits immunized with hnHDL and those that received an injection of IFA, and these levels were within normal limits for rabbits 17 . Blood HDL‐cholesterol levels in hnHDL‐immunized rabbits were higher than in the rabbits that had received an injection of IFA (Figure 5B).…”

“…The increase in HDL cholesterol is comparable to that observed in rabbits fed a high-cholesterol diet. 17 The cause of the increase in blood HDL cholesterol in hnHDL-immunized rabbits may be a compensatory response to the removal from the blood of HDL opsonized with anti-HDL antibodies present in the blood of immunized rabbits.…”

Evaluation of biochemical parameters during daytime hours

“…In the literature approach to the lipid profile, which is adopted in many countries such as the USA, Switzerland, and Canada, there is no significant difference between fasting and nonfasting status, and thereby many countries make changes to their reference intervals [5,15]. A recent prospective study by Wang et al [16] evaluated lipid profile values in fasting and 4-h postprandial status. The results showed that there were no significant differences in lipid levels between the fasting and nonfasting samples.…”

“…The mean values for HDL-C and TC were very close to each other, where the highest differences between the mean values were 1.69 and 3.4 mg/dL, respectively (Table 1). Several studies have shown that fasting is not substantially necessary for routine lipid level measurements [3,16,17]. As a result of studies including children, women, and men with diabetes from the USA, Denmark, and Canada, plasma lipids and lipoproteins have been observed to change slightly in response to the patient's usual food intake (p>0.05).…”

Influence of use N-acetylcystein for the correction of antioxidant status in rabbits’ on indicators of blood plasma lipid profile

“…Дослідження виконані на статевозрілих самцях кролів породи Hyla (n=14). У роботі були використані самці кролів, для уникнення впливу естрогенів на показники ліпідного метаболізму за рекомендацією Wang et al (2019) [13]. Групи були сформовані за принципом аналогів, по 7 тварин у кожній.…”