Injury produces early rise in lipoprotein lipase activity in rabbit aorta

Abstract The mechanisms following intimal injury predisposing towards atherosclerotic changes have not been fully elucidated. We speculated that a local increase in the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL) might explain a higher susceptibility of the damaged intima to lipid accretion, and so we investigated the effect of balloon endothelial denudation on LPL activity and cholesterol content (LPL a and Chol c , respectively), in aortas from normolipidemic male New Zealand white rabbits. Arteries were obtained from injured and control animals after 2, 6, 8 and 10 weeks to evaluate the shortest period after de-endothelialization necessary to detect LPL a changes. Injury resulted in a 4-fold LPL a rise ( P c increase ( P a . This finding might account for the higher lipid accumulation by injured vessels, providing additional support to the hypothesis of LPL as an atherogenic mediator.