Lipid Effects of Experimental Oophorectomy and Cardiovascular Risk Association

Abstract

In view of the controversy between hormonal replacement in postmenopausal women and decreased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and the effects of estrogens associated with progesterones, or progesterone alone, we developed a protocol to evaluate the repercussions of hormone therapy with progesterone in oophorectomized rabbits submitted to atherogenic diet, on the development of atherosclerotic lesions induced in animals. Forty New Zealand rabbits were oophorectomized and divided into three groups. After 90 days, when the animals were sacrificed and the lesions that developed in the aorta and coronary arteries were evaluated. The results showed an increase in serum cholesterol in the four groups of animals. In groups II, III and IV, there was an increase of approximately fifteen times the baseline values, with no significant differences between these groups observed in 5 time courses. Regarding triglyceride levels, we found that group III showed a significant increase in values in Time 4, but this difference was not verified in Time 5. When quantitatively analyzing the area occupied by the lesion, we found that there were no statistically significant differences between the groups submitted to the atherogenic diet, observing that the coronary arteries presented a lower number of compromised arteries.