I hope I'm just tired from the holidays, because I'm having trouble seeing something. Hope someone else can get me straightened out.
Anichkov fed cholesterol to rabbits, which supposedly gave them intimal/human-like atherosclerosis. Later, other researchers found that feeding cholesterol to dogs doesn't cause atherosclerosis unless you remove their thyroids. The common factor between both groups of animals is said to be elevated blood cholesterol levels.
Now, I'm having trouble squaring this with the chronic scurvy explanation of human atherosclerosis. I know these animals had to be in very unnatural situations in order to develop atherosclerosis, but how does that relate to their C levels? Does dietary cholesterol deplete C in herbivores? Does low thyroid reduce the C production of dogs? Or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely (ugh, sorry, pun not intended)? Is there some other way that lipids can build up in the artery walls?