Serum cholesterol levels of nondiabetic and streptozotocin-diabetic rats fed a high cholesterol diet.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of dietary cholesterol on the total blood cholesterol levels of nondiabetic and streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: nondiabetic/control diet (C), streptozotocin-diabetic/control diet (D), nondiabetic/control diet + 2% cholesterol (CH), and streptozotocin-diabetic/control diet + 2% cholesterol (DH). Plasma cholesterol levels were not significantly elevated in the D group (63.4 +/- 9.0 mg/dl) when compared with the C group (71.3 +/- 3.9 mg/dl) but were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the CH group (89.8 +/- 8.1 mg/dl). There was nearly a six-fold significant elevation (p < 0.0025) in the DH group (530.0 +/- 58.0 mg/dl) contrasted to the nondiabetic rats fed the same diet. The results of this study indicate that streptozotocin-diabetic rats fed a high cholesterol diet experience hypercholesterolemia.