English Abstract Two pilot studies using hamsters were performed, as a
prologue to an investigation of suitability of the hamster as an animal
model for identification of atherogenic substances. The purpose of these
studies was to obtain experience with the hamster as an animal model, with
emphasis on biotechnical aspects, biochemical methods and histopathological
investigation. The formulated semi-purified hamster diet was sufficiently
consumed by the hamsters, which exhibited normal growth. In the hamster
serum HDL-cholesterol concentration could reliably and reproducibly be
measured using a precipitation technique. The dietary cholesterol-induced
changes in blood lipids closely resembled those observed in rats and to a
lesser extent those observed in humans, especially when the observation was
taken into account that part of HDL2 of the hamster appeared to have a
density within the "classical" LDL-range. LDL and HDL2 of the hamster has
to be separated within the density ranges 1,019
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