INCREASED FACTOR VII REACTIVITY IN THE RABBIT FOLLOWING DIET-INDUCED HYPERCHOIESTEROIAEMIA
The association of factor VII coagulant activity (VIIC) with plasma lipid concentrations has been a consistent feature of a number of studies in man and points to plasma lipoproteins as determinants of VIIC.To modify plasma lipoprotein concentrations and to study the effect of this on VIIC, rabbits were fed a 1%- cholesterol-supplemented diet. Treatment resulted in a many-fold increase in plasma cholesterol concentration with the major fraction of excess cholesterol associated with the very low and intermediate density lipoprotein fractions. VIIC was considerably higher in rabbits fed 1%- cholesterol-supplemented than in rabbits fed the standard diet. In both groups of rabbits, the direction and extent of variation in VIIC coincided with variation in cholesterol concentration so that over time there were significant and positive correlations between VIIC and plasma cholesterol. A method that provides a measure of the total functionalfactor VII concentration (VII) was also used. This assay involves clotting the plasma in the presence of excess tissue factor and therefore the conversion of VII tothe more reactive two-chain form of theprotein (αVIIa) .The concentration of αVIIa present in the serum was measured from the rate of activation of excess of [sialyl-3H]-bovine factor X. By day 10 of treatment, and in all furthercomparisons VTIt was only slightly higher in the group of rabbits fed cholesterol-supplemented than in that fed the standard diet.This increase in VI11 istoo small to explain the considerable increasin VIIC in the hypercholesterolaemic rabbit. We conclude thattheincrease in VIIc was to ahigher proportion of αVIIa in theplasma of hyperchol⋆esterol-aemic rabbits rather thanto an increase in the concentration of the single-chain protein.