9 1993 by The Humana Press, Inc. All rights of any nature, whatsoever, reserved. 0163-4984/93/3801-0047 $03.00 Effect of Copper Sulfate on Experimental Atherosclerosis MARIANA VLAD,1 E. BORDAS, 1 RODICA TOMUS,' DOINA SAVA,~ ECATERINA FARKAS, ~ AND G. Uz_A 2,* 1Institute of Public Health and Medical Research and 2Departmental Policlinic 11, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Received March 1, 1992; Revised October 25, 1992; Accepted November 23, 1992 ABSTRACT Serum copper concentration increases significantly (p < 0.01) in rats with experimental atherosclerosis compared to a control group. The serum zinc, the zinc, and copper concentration in abdominal aorta and in liver decreases significantly (p < 0.05) compared to the control group. Administration of copper sulfate for 100 d in these animals induces a significant increase of serum copper (p < 0.01), decrease of serum cholesterol (p < 0.05) and increase of liver copper concentration as compared with the group fed only a high cholesterol diet. In the aorta of these animals the copper concentration increases and edema and lipid infiltration are considerably less than in the group of animals fed only a high lipid diet. Index Entries: Serum Cu and Zn; tissue Cu and Zn concentra- tion; copper sulfate; experimental atherosclerosis. INTRODUCTION Copper-deficient rats have been found with an increased choles- terinemia and increased LDL-cholesterol together with a decrease of HDL-cholesterol (1-6). Other authors showed that the increase of serum cholesterol is associated with the increase of HDL-cholesterol (3,4,7). *Author to whom all correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Biological Trace Element Research 47 Vol. 38, 1993