Despite the well-known cardiovascular effects of an atherogenic diet, there are no data relating to its effect on the exocrine pancreas. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of this eating pattern on the exocrine pancreas. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2015) 39: 765-774 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Effects of a Western-style diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat on the rabbit exocrine pancreas 1,2, 1,2 2,3 María Alba Martínez BURGOS *, María Dolores Yago TORREGROSA , María Dolores Mesa GARCÍA , 1,2 1,2 4 2,3 María Belén López MILLÁN , Jesús Alcalá Bejarano CARRILLO , Ana Rivas VELASCO , Ángel Gil HERNÁNDEZ , 1,2 1,2 Mariano Mañas ALMENDROS , Emilio Martínez de VICTORIA MUÑOZ 1 Department of Physiology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain 2 Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology “J. Mataix”, Centre for Biomedical Research at the Health Sciences Technology Park, Armilla, Granada, Spain 3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, University of Granada, Granada, Spain 4 Department of Nutrition and Bromatology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Received: Accepted/Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Despite the well-known cardiovascular effects of an atherogenic diet, there are no data relating to its effect on the exocrine pancreas. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of this eating pattern on the exocrine pancreas. Twelve New Zealand rabbits were randomised to one of two dietary groups, control group (C) and hypercholesterolemic (HCHOL), that were fed for 50 days with a standard chow or a diet containing standard chow, 3% lard, and cholesterol, respectively. Pancreatic enzyme activity, cholesterol, and membrane fatty acids were determined by established methods. The activity of pancreatic lipase ( ± vs. ± ; P < ), colipase ( ± vs. ± ; P < ), and chymotrypsin ( ± vs. ± ; P < ) were greater in group HCHOL than in group C. The HCHOL diet increased monounsaturated fatty acids and decreased saturated fatty acids in pancreatic plasma .
