Dietary fish oil and experimental atherosclerosis

In the review of (most human) fish oil studies in chapter 1 it was shown that the data are not all confirmative and only a few studies were well-controlled. However, the safety of the needed experimental high doses of fish oil requires further investigation. The general aims of this thesis were to investigate the effects of high doses of dietary fish oil on: 1. plasmalipids, 2.membrane phospholipid fatty acid composition, 3. membrane function, 4. sensitivity of membranes to lipid peroxidation, 5. morphology of various tissues 6. myocardial function during normoxia, and after ischemia and reperfusion, 7. platelet function 8. prostanoid synthesis, 9. platelet vessel wall interaction, and 10. rate of regression of atherosclerotic lesions. For the optimal control of our studies we performed the experiments in an animal model. The pig was chosen because its anatomy, physiology and lipid metabolism are similar to that of man. Swine are also known to develop spontaneously atherosclerotic lesions, which are similar to the atherosclerotic lesions in man.