Abstract: Animal models are very important tools to study the pathogenesis, pathology and treatment of atherosclerosis. Animal models for studying atherosclerosis include rodents, rabbits, pigs and nonhuman primates. Among them, ApoE -/- mouse and LDLR-/- mouse are currently the most widely used. They can form atherosclerotic lesions, but in some respects there are significant differences. In this paper, the differences between the two model mice in lipid metabolism, plaque formation and pathology, lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, microRNA expression and regulation were reviewed.

Key words: atherosclerosis, animal model, apolipoprotein E, low density lipoprotein receptor, gene knockout