Lp(a)-Overexpressing Mouse experiments
Lp(a) transgenic mice were produced as previously described2. Briefly, human apo(a) Yeast Artificial Chromosomes (YAC) transgenic mice were created by insertion of human apo(a) YAC, including the 110 kb apo(a) gene, 70 kb apo(a)-like gene, and the 270 kb genomic DNA (YAC DNA) containing 5′-prime of plasminogen gene. Lp(a) transgenic mice were created by mating human apo(a) transgenic and human apoB transgenic Friend Virus B (FVB) mice and selection of double homo-transgenic mice. Four-week-old Lp(a) transgenic (N=10) and FVB non-transgenic control (N=10) mice were fed a high cholesterol diet for 6 weeks then sacrificed. The experiments were approved by the Ethical Committee for Animal Experiments of the Tokushima University Graduate School of Medicine.