Effect of Starvation-Refeeding Status on Cholesterol Metabolism in Rats Fed High-Cholesterol Diet

The present study investigated the effect of starvation-refeeding status on cholesterol metabolism in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet or a cholesterol-free diet. Twenty male and 20 female Donryu rats (age 5 weeks) were fed a cholesterol-free diet for 14 days. Then the male and female rats were each divided into two groups: feeding and starvation-refeeding groups. The feeding groups were fed the experimental diet for 3 days, and the starvation-refeeding groups fasted for 2 days followed by 3 days of feeding. Half of each of groups was fed a cholesterol-free diet and the other half was fed a high-cholesterol diet. Starvation-refeeding significantly increased the plasma free cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol concentrations in both the high-cholesterol-diet-fed rats and the cholesterol-free-diet-fed rats. In the female rats, plasma total cholesterol and cholesteryl ester concentrations were significantly higher in the high-cholesterol groups than in the cholesterol-free groups, whereas TG concentration and total cholesterol/TG ratio were not significantly different among all of the groups. Liver total cholesterol and cholesteryl ester were significantly higher in the high-cholesterol groups than in the cholesterol-free groups in both male and female rats. These results suggest that starvation-refeeding affected cholesterol metabolism at least in part. The reactivity of the cholesterol metabolism may be different between male and female rats.