AIM:To compare the reliability and plaque area between using high-cholesterol diet and high-cho-lesterol diet with corn oil to establish a rabbit atherosclerotic model .METHODS:Eighteen New Zealand rabbits were ran-domly divided into 3 groups (6 rabbits each):normal diet group (group C), high-cholesterol diet group (group H1) and high-cholesterol diet containing 6%corn oil group (group H2).All rabbits were fed for 12 weeks, and their body mea-sured was weighed at the end of every weeks .The serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( HDL-C) , low-den-sity lipoprotein cholesterol ( LDL-C) , total cholesterol ( TC) and triglyceride ( TG) were measured by automatic chemistry analyzer at 0 week and 12 weeks.At the end of 12 weeks, the thoracic aorta of 8-cm length since aortic root was isolated from the rabbit after anesthesia , and stained with Sudan IV or oil red O to verify the existence of plaque .The percentage of plaque area (PA/IA) in the intima area was further calculated by ImageJ 2x software.RESULTS:At the end of 12-week feeding, the serum levels of HDL-C, LDL-C and TC in both group H1 and group H2 were significantly higher than those in group C, and serum TG in group H2 was significantly higher than that in group C .Serum HDL-C in group H2 was signifi-cantly higher than that in group H1, but no significant difference of serum LDL-C, TC and TG between group H1 and group H2 was found .There was no plaque in the intima in group C , and plaques were observed in the intima of all rabbits in group H1 and group H2.Rabbit atherosclerotic models in both group H 1 and group H2 were established with a success rate of 100%.The values of PA/IA in group H1 [(49.74 ±18.78)%] and group H2 [(56.95 ±26.74)%] were both sig-nificantly higher than that in group C (0%), and no significant difference of PA/IA between group H1 and group H2 was observed.CONCLUSION:High-cholesterol diet with or without corn oil can establish a rabbit atherosclerotic model with a success rate of 100%after 12-week feeding , and the percentage of plaque area in the total aortic intimal area is not differ-ent in the 2 feeding methods .