Objective  To compare the effect of different water and diets on atherosclerosis lesion formation in rabbits.    Methods  Twenty-eight 3-month-old New Zealand male white rabbits were weighted and randomly equally divided into 4 groups

with 7 rabbits in each group

and were fed respectively with tap-water and basic feedstuff

purified-water and basic feedstuff

tap-water and high-fat diet

and purified-water and high-fat diet for 26 weeks. The blood concentrations of TC

TG

HDL-C

LDL-C

apoA

apoB

MDA

NO and total activity of SOD were measured every month. At the end of the experiment

the blood concentrations of ET-1 and Mg

2+

were measur

ed

and the histopathological changes of the liver

heart

and aortic arch were observed and atherosclerotic index (AI) was calculated.    Results  In comparison with the tap-water and high-fat diet group

levels of serum TC

TG

HDL-C

LDL-C

MDA

and ET-1 were significantly increased (P0.05)

and NO and SOD were significantly decreased in purified-water and high-fat diet group(P0.01). All high-fat diet groups had typical atherosclerotic plaque

and purified-water groups’ AI was higher than tap-water group [(4.40±0.75) vs (4.18±0.77)

P0.05

]

.    Conclusion  At the background of high-fat diet

drinking tap-water for a long time is more likely to result in the atherosclerosis lesion formation than drinking purified-water.