Correlation between plasma fibrinogen and serum lipids in rats with hyperlipidemia induced by cholesterol free-high fructose or high cholesterol diet.

We studied the coagulative and fibrinolytic activity in intrinsic or extrinsic hyperlipidemia using 4-week-old male Wistar rats. Intrinsic hyperlipidemia was induced by a cholesterol-free high-fructose diet (HFD) and extrinsic hyperlipidemia, by a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) for 14 days. In intrinsic hyperlipidemic rats fed on the HFD, serum lipids were significantly increased as compared with the levels in control rats fed on a standard diet. An apparent increase in plasma fibrinogen level and coagulant factor XIII activity was also observed in HFD rats. In extrinsic hyperlipidemic rats fed on the HCD, significant increases in plasma fibrinogen level compared with that of control rats were found with the increases in serum lipids. Activities of antithrombin III and alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor in HFD-fed rats significantly increased compared with those of control and HFD rats. There was a significant positive correlation between plasma fibrinogen and serum total cholesterol, free cholesterol, or phospholipid in diet-induced hyperlipidemia (p < 0.01). Because of the increase in coagulant XIII activity in HFD-fed rats and the increase in alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor activity in HCD-fed rats, both diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats were shown to have enhanced coagulative activity compared with the control rats. These results suggest that the HFD as well as the HCD causes a pre-hypercoagulative state due to the increase in plasma fibrinogen level and activities in other coagulative and fibrinolytic factors.