Effect of Short-Term Feeding of Fish Oils and of Antioxidants on Plasma and Liver Cholesterol in the Rat

The addition of different fish oils to basal carbohydrate or fat diets induced hypocholesterolemia in the rat. On the other hand these same diets increased the liver cholesterol levels. The observed hypocholesterolemia is a consequence of a decrease in the esterified fraction, whereas liver cholesterol increase was mainly due to an accumulation of free cholesterol. The addition of N,N1-diphenyl-′-phenylenediamine and 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethyl-6-ethoxyquinoline to high fat diets supplemented with 20% of shad oil tended to reverse the effects produced by the fish oil. It decreased the degree of hypocholesterolemia and the accumulation of liver cholesterol. Butyl-4-methoxyphenol, another antioxidant studied, was ineffective in this respect.