**3. Evaluation of substances' anti‐atherosclerotic activity using cellular models**

Preventive anti‐atherosclerotic therapy should be aimed at reduction of intracellular lipid accumulation [35]. Such reduction can be achieved by different approaches [36]. First, the therapy may decrease the level of circulating modified LDL. Second, it can target atherogenic modification of LDL in the bloodstream. Third, it can reduce lipid uptake and storage by the arterial wall cells. Finally, the therapy can be aimed at depletion of the existing intracellular lipid stores. All these approaches can be evaluated by measuring the reduction of intracellular lipid accumulation and the decrease of the intracellular pool of cholesterol esters [9, 37, 38]. A number of available medications can be used to decrease blood serum atherogenicity [9, 36, 38, 39], which is defined as the ability of blood serum to induce cholesterol accumulation in cultured cells. Blood serum from patients with coronary atherosclerosis usually has high atherogenicity [19]. Changes of blood serum atherogenicity reflect lipid accumulation in the arterial wall and are therefore relevant for the development of preventive therapy. Such changes can be detected using cultured cells as models of early stages of human atherogenesis [9, 38, 40]. Cellular models can be used for evaluation of anti‐atherosclerotic potential of different drugs and active substances, for screening of potential anti‐atherosclerotic agents and for evaluation of potential clinical efficacy of various molecules.
