Treatment of young rats with cholestyramine or a hypercholesterolemic diet does not influence the response of serum cholesterol to dietary cholesterol in later life.

Groups of 10 female Wistar rats (aged 4 weeks) were fed for 29 days either a low-cholesterol commercial diet, a commercial diet containing 2% (w/w) cholesterol, 0.5% cholate and 5% olive oil or a diet containing 2% cholestyramine. The rats were then fed the low-cholesterol commercial diet for the next 91 days and the high-cholesterol diet for another 29 days. There was no significant difference between the groups in the increase of cholesterol in serum and liver during the last period of cholesterol feeding. A fourth group of 10 animals was fed the diet containing cholesterol and cholate during the entire experimental period of 149 days. By the end of the experiment serum cholesterol in these animals was lower and liver cholesterol was higher than in the 3 groups fed the high-cholesterol diet during days 120-149 of the experiment. This study does not present evidence for imprinting effects of early diet manipulation on the later cholesterolemic response to a high cholesterol diet.