Cousineau CM, Loftus K, Churchill GA, Bridges D. Cross-sectional association between blood cholesterol and calcium levels in genetically diverse strains of mice.
FEBS Open Bio 2024;
14:426-433. [PMID:
38129969 PMCID:
PMC10909986 DOI:
10.1002/2211-5463.13757]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Genetically diverse outbred mice allow for the study of genetic variation in the context of high dietary and environmental control. Using a machine learning approach, we investigated clinical and morphometric factors that associate with serum cholesterol levels in 840 genetically unique Diversity Outbred mice of both sexes (n = 417 male and 423 female), and on both a control chow (% kcals in diet: protein 22%, carbohydrate 62%, fat 16%, no cholesterol) and high fat high sucrose (% kcals in diet: protein 15%, carbohydrate 41%, fat 45%, 0.05% cholesterol). We find expected elevations of cholesterol in male mice, as well as in mice with elevated serum triglycerides and/or fed a high fat high sucrose diet. The third strongest predictor was serum calcium which correlated with serum cholesterol across both diets and sexes (r = 0.39-0.48) in both Diversity Outbred (P = 3.0 × 10-43 ) and BXD (P = 0.005) mice. This is in-line with several human cohort studies which show associations between calcium and cholesterol, and calcium as an independent predictor of cardiovascular events.
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