The WHHL rabbit strain was developed by Dr. Yoshio Watanabe. Unfortunately, he died at December 13, 2008. He was 81 years old. We, as the successors of the WHHL rabbit colony, published   a review article about history of WHHL rabbit's developement  to pay tribute to his scientific achievements by looking back upon the history of studies using WHHL rabbits. This review describes the characteristics of WHHL rabbits and the application to translational researches for human hypercholesterolemia and the related diseases including atherosclerosis in addition to history of WHHL rabbit development.
     WHHL rabbits have contributed to the studies of lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis in vivo. For example, WHHL rabbits contributed to the Nobel Prize study by Goldstein JL and Brown MS. We provided WHHL rabbits to them in 1980, and they proved their hypothesis of the LDL receptor pathway in vivo using WHHL rabbits. Their research on lipoprotein metabolism was highly appreciated and they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1985. WHHL rabbits have also contributed to the study of atherogenesis, destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques, and development of compounds for lowering plasma cholesterol levels and inhibiting atherosclerosis. In particular, WHHL rabbits contributed greatly to the development of statins prescribed in more than 40 million patients worldwide.
      WHHL rabbits spontaneously developing myocardial infarction were developed by selective breeding of WHHL rabbits prone to coronary atherosclerosis in 1999 and were named WHHLMI rabbits.
       This site explains the histry of the development and the characteristics of the WHHL and WHHLMI rabbits, and the contribution to the development of therapeutics and diagnostic methods for hyperlipidemia and arteriosclerosis.