Primary Genetic Investigation of a Hyperlipidemia Model: Molecular Characteristics and Variants of the Apolipoprotein E Gene in Mongolian Gerbil

The objective of this work was to establish a novel Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) hyperlipidemia model and to investigate its susceptibility genetic basis. Two rodent (gerbil and rat) hyperlipidemia models were induced by feeding a high fat/high-cholesterol (HF/HC) diet. There were significant increases of serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in gerbils within a 4-week modeling period. About 10-30% of >8-month-old individuals developed hyperlipidemia spontaneously. The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene was cloned by merging a sequence of rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and nested polymerase chain reaction products. The results revealed an open reading frame of 948 bp, encoding a protein of 298 amino acids. The gene without a 5'-UTR region in the first intron was highly homologous to human Apo-A-I and rat Apo-A-IV. The distribution of expression of the ApoE gene in liver, brain, heart, lung, kidney, and adrenal gland was detected by an ABC immunohistochemical procedure. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; C97T, G781T, and A1774T) were first found using PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) in a closed population containing 444 animals. Correlation analysis confirmed that new SNPs, age, and gender were associated significantly (P < 0.05) with hyperlipidemia.