The class
A fructose-enriched diet raises plasma and adipose CETP in hamsters despite lowering, not raising, insulin levels (Life Sci 2001)
Original title: Induction of cholesteryl ester transfer protein in adipose tissue and plasma of the fructose-fed hamster
Male Golden Syrian hamsters fed a 60%-fructose-enriched diet for four weeks had lower plasma insulin than chow-fed controls (3.3 versus 7.4 ng/mL, p<0.03) despite similar glucose, alongside significantly higher plasma triglyceride (269 versus 165 mg/dL, p<0.01) and cholesterol (150 versus 113 mg/dL, p<0.02). Total plasma CETP activity and mass were both higher in fructose-fed animals (1036 versus 826 pmol/h/mL, p<0.04, and mass p<0.02), and adipose tissue CETP mRNA, measured by ribonuclease protection assay, was 53% higher than in controls, showing that dietary fructose alone, independent of insulin elevation, can induce CETP in both plasma and adipose tissue.
Original abstract
Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) plays a pivotal role in the reverse transport of cholesterol and in the remodeling of circulating lipoproteins. While plasma and adipose tissue levels of CETP are affected by a variety of metabolic conditions, the extent of the effects of dietary factors, other than high cholesterol feeding, are not well understood. To further explore this paradigm, male Golden Syrian hamsters were fed for 4 weeks with a 60%-enriched fructose diet (F) and were compared to a matched group of animals fed with a normal chow diet (N). After feeding for 4 weeks, plasma insulin concentrations were lower in animals fed fructose than in control animals (F: 3.3+/-0.8 vs N: 7.4+/-1.9 ng/mL; p<0.03), but there was no significant difference in plasma glucose concentrations between the two groups (F: 138+/-7 vs N: 148+/-10 mg/dL; p>0.05). Fructose-fed animals showed significant increases in plasma triglyceride (F: 269+/-22 vs N: 165+/-22 mg/dL; p<0.01) and plasma cholesterol (F: 150+/-10 vs N: 113+/-6 mg/dL; p<0.02) concentrations compared with control animals. Total CETP activity and immunoreactive mass were higher in the plasma of fructose-fed animals that in that of controls (F: 1036+/-70 vs N: 826+/-43 pmol/h/mL, p<0.04 and F: 24.5+/-3.1 vs N: 37.5+/-4.3 AU, p<0.02, respectively). Adipose tissue CETP mRNA levels, assessed by the very sensitive ribonuclease protection assay, were 53% higher in fructose-fed animals than in controls (F: 14.1+/-2.0 vs N: 9.2+/-1.0 AU over a rRNA control; p<0.04). Adipose tissue CETP activity and immunoreactive mass also showed a statistically significant increase in the fructose-fed hamsters compared with those fed a normal diet (p<0.04). In conclusion, fructose feeding in Syrian hamsters induces a mixed dyslipidemia. These metabolic changes are accompanied by a significant increase in CETP levels, both in plasma and in adipose tissue. This phenomenon suggests that the increase in the expression of adipose tissue CETP may be caused either by the ambient hypercholesterolemia resulting from fructose feeding or by an attenuation of a possible inhibitory effect of plasma insulin concentrations on the expression of adipose tissue CETP in this feeding paradigm.
Summary written by cetpinhibition.org from the published abstract; figures as published. Page updated 19 August 2026. Methods.