The zebra fish, a small fish which is transparent when young, appears to develop artery hardening in a way likened to the human disease atherosclerosis when fed a diet containing excessive amounts of cholesterol. In the study, the high cholesterol feed was mixed with a red fluorescent lipid - a type of fat which emits a red light when stimulated with the right kind of light source. The fish themselves were genetically modified to produce green flourescent protein within their endothelial cells, emitting green light and allowing the structures to be seen. This produced clear images with red atherosclerosis and green vasculature.
Although the physiology of a fish is very different to that of a human, the fact that an unstable plaque does form suggests that there may be a similar underlying pathology.
