/ Knockout Mice as a Novel Cardiovascular Disease Model of Hypertension and Atherosclerosis.

Hypertension is an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. However, few models of hypertensive atherosclerosis have been established in medical research. In this study, we crossed the knockout (-KO; ) atherosclerotic mouse model with the knockout (-KO; ) hypertensive mouse model to establish an double knockout (-KO; ) hypertensive atherosclerosis mouse model. We found that mice reproduced normally, had a blood pressure of 133.00 ± 3.85 mmHg, and developed hypertensive fundus retinopathy and hypertensive nephropathy. In addition, serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in the blood were abnormally elevated, steatosis was observed in the liver cells, and atherosclerotic lesions were observed in the aortic vessels in adult mice. In conclusion, adult mice are a satisfactory model of hypertension and atherosclerosis and can be utilized for studies on cardiovascular diseases.