Penn A, Lu M X, Parkes J L
Institute of Environmental Medicine, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016.
Toxicology. 1990 Sep;63(3):301-13. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(90)90192-j.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for nearly half the deaths, yearly, in the United States. The arterio(athero)sclerotic plaque is the principal lesion of CVD. The White Carneau (WC) pigeon is an animal model that has been employed extensively for studying CVD. Cholesterol (CHOL) feeding aggravates atherosclerosis in WC pigeons greater than 2 years old. In 1986, two reports appeared from a single laboratory claiming a direct effect of drinking chlorinated (Cl) water upon lipid levels and plaque development in young (less than 1 year) WC pigeons. These are the only reports of such direct effects, to date. Three months' exposure to 2 ppm or 15 ppm Cl in the drinking water, resulted in increased circulating CHOL levels in young male WC pigeons fed a normocholesterolemic (NC) diet in which Ca2+ levels were reduced. In addition, at both Cl concentrations there was a significant increase in plaque size, compared to controls. Pigeons in the 2 ppm group also exhibited elevated low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels after 3 months on the NC diet. These findings, if extrapolated to man, could have considerable public health consequences, since nearly 200 million people in the United States drink Cl water. We have carried out a similar set of studies but with strikingly different results. We used the same suppliers of pigeons and feed as did the authors of the 1986 reports and followed their approach where possible. Six month-old male WC pigeons drank water with 2 ppm or 15 ppm Cl (pH 8.5) and ate a NC diet with Ca2+ reduced to 80% of normal. At both 1 and 3 months, body weight, CHOL, triglyceride and LDL levels were unaffected by drinking Cl water. There was also no effect of Cl water on plaque size after 3 months. Thus, we found no evidence that drinking chlorinated water has any effect upon circulating lipid levels or upon the development of arteriosclerotic plaques, in this animal model.
心血管疾病（CVD）在美国每年导致近一半的死亡。动脉粥样硬化斑块是心血管疾病的主要病变。白卡诺（WC）鸽是一种被广泛用于研究心血管疾病的动物模型。给2岁以上的WC鸽喂食胆固醇（CHOL）会加重动脉粥样硬化。1986年，同一实验室发表了两篇报告，称饮用氯化（Cl）水对1岁以下幼龄WC鸽的血脂水平和斑块形成有直接影响。迄今为止，这是仅有的关于此类直接影响的报告。让幼龄雄性WC鸽饮用含2 ppm或15 ppm Cl的水三个月，这些鸽子食用钙（Ca2+）含量降低的正常胆固醇饮食（NC），结果其循环CHOL水平升高。此外，与对照组相比，两种Cl浓度下斑块大小均显著增加。2 ppm组的鸽子在食用NC饮食3个月后，低密度脂蛋白（LDL）水平也有所升高。这些发现如果推断到人类身上，可能会对公共卫生产生重大影响，因为美国有近2亿人饮用含Cl水。我们进行了一组类似的研究，但结果却截然不同。我们使用了与1986年报告的作者相同的鸽子和饲料供应商，并尽可能遵循他们的方法。6个月大的雄性WC鸽饮用含2 ppm或15 ppm Cl（pH 8.5）的水，并食用Ca2+含量降至正常水平80%的NC饮食。在1个月和3个月时，体重、CHOL、甘油三酯和LDL水平均不受饮用Cl水的影响。3个月后，Cl水对斑块大小也没有影响。因此，在这个动物模型中，我们没有发现饮用氯化水对循环血脂水平或动脉粥样硬化斑块形成有任何影响的证据。
