Introduction and Optimization of a Dietary Model for Inducing Hyperlipidemia in Rats

Inducing hyperlipidemia in laboratory animals through diet is a good way to study metabolic disorders. This study was conducted to provide an effective and accessible diet for generating hyperlipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver models in rats.
In this experimental study, 40 male Wistar rats (180-200 g) were divided into 5 equal groups including 2 control groups receiving regular diet for 4 (C1) or 8 weeks (C2), and 3 experimental groups receiving high fat diet along with 0.2% (E1) or 0.1% thiouracil (E2) for 8 and 4 weeks (E3). Finally, the concentration of total cholesterol (TC), LDL, HDL, and triglyceride (TG) was measured and the fat accumulation in the liver tissue was measured quantitatively.
FINDINGS: All experimental groups had significantly higher TC, TG, LDL and lower HDL compared to control (p The high-fat diet introduced in this study can cause hyperlipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver rats within 4 weeks