In vivo oxidised cholesterol in atherosclerosis.

Dear Editors, Evidence has been increasing the last several years that oxidative modification of LDL may play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis [1,2]. Further support for the oxidative modification hypothesis is provided by the recent report of Salonen et al. [3] who found that the titre of autoantibodies to malondialdehydemodified LDL was an independent predictor of the progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Although there is little doubt about the specificity of these antibodies to artificially oxidised LDL [4], direct evidence that LDL oxidation actually takes place in vivo is scarce; most research on oxidation of LDL involves oxidisability in vitro. We have measured circulating cholesterol oxidation products in WHHL rabbits. Six-month-old rabbits