Hyperlipidaemia is a well established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and
therefore many animal modelshave been developed to mimic the human abnormal elevation
of blood lipid levels. In parallel, extensive research for the alleviation of ischaemia/reperfusion
injury has revealed that hyperlipidaemia is a major comorbidity that attenuates the
cardioprotective effect of conditioning strategies (pre-conditioning, post-conditioning,
remote conditioning) andthat of pharmacological interventions by interfering with
cardioprotective signallingpathways. In the present review article, we summarize the
existing data on animal models of hypercholesterolaemia (total, low density and high-density
lipoprotein abnormalities) and hypertriglyceridaemia used in ischaemia/reperfusion
injury and protection from it. We also provide recommendations on preclinical animal
models to be used for translations of the cardioprotective strategies into clinical
practice.
