Age and blood pressure related changes in cholesterol esterase activity and cholesterol content in aortas of stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, spontaneously hypertensive rats and normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats.

Changes in aortic lipolytic enzyme activities (cholesterol esterase and lipoprotein lipase) and acid phosphatase activity during aging were investigated in three strains of rats with different blood pressures; stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP), spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKR). The blood pressures of male, 7 month old animals, was 234 (SHRSP), 173 (SHR) and 128 (WKR) mmHg. The cholesterol esterase activity markedly decreased with age in the aortas of SHRSP, SHR and normotensive WKR rats, while acid phosphatase activity decreased only slightly, if at all, and lipoprotein lipase activity remained unchanged. This effect was enhanced by increasing blood pressure in SHRSP, SHR and WKR. The total aortic cholesterol content increased significantly with hypertension in a inverse relation with cholesterol esterase activity. These results suggest that cholesterol deposition in aged arteries is, at least partialy, ascribable to an age-related decrease in cholesterol esterase, and that hypertension aggravates the deposition of arterial cholesterol by accelerating the age-related decrease in aortic cholesterol esterase activity.