The protective role of iron chelation and zinc supplements in atherosclerosis induced in New Zealand white rabbits: A nuclear microscopy study

Secondly, the effect of zinc supplements on atherosclerotic lesion growth was examined. The rabbits in the test group received a 1% w/w cholesterol diet with Zn supplements for 8 weeks and the rabbits in the control group were fed only with a 1% w/w cholesterol diet for the same period of time. Lesion area analyses using light microscopy showed that the average lesion area was 1.0 mm2 for the test models compared with 3.0 mm2 for the control group models (p = 0.0045). Elemental analysis of the lesion and adjacent artery wall showed that the average zinc level remained the same for both the lesion and the artery wall for both test and control models, whilst the iron levels are reduced from 43 ppm to 31 ppm (in the lesion) and from 17 ppm to 6 ppm (in the artery wall). This raises the possibility that zinc may act as an endogenous protective factor against atherosclerosis by reducing iron levels.