Diabetes, Vol 26, Issue 1 11-21, Copyright © 1977 by American Diabetes Association
Postheparin plasma lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase in diabetes mellitus. Relationship to plasma triglyceride metabolism
EA Nikkila, JK Huttunen and C Ehnholm
The activity of two triglyceride lipases was determined by an
immunochemical method in the postheparin plasma of 60 diabetic patients and
of 47 age- and sex-matched nondiabetic control subjects. The results were
related to the type of diabetes, to plasma triglyceride and insulin
concentrations, to removal of exogenous fat from the blood, and to turnover
of VLDL-triglycerides . The mean postheparin plasma lipoprotein lipase
(LPL) activity was decreased by 44 per cent (p less than 0.001) in patients
with untreated ketotic diabetes and by 20 per cent (p less than 0.01) in
patients with untreated mild to moderate nonketotic early-onset diabetes.
Insulin treatment of ketotic diabetes resulted in a rapid increase in the
activity of LPL and decrease in serum triglycerdie level, whereas
sulfonylurea treatment of non-insulin-requiring diabetics did not
significantly influence the enzyme activity. In insulin-treated chronic
diabetics the average postheparin plasma LPL activity was not different
from that of nondiabetic controls, but some of these patients had high LPL
values. In normolipidemic maturity-onset-type diabetics the LPL activity
was within normal range, but in those having hypertriglyceridemia the
average LPL value was decreased by an average of 26 per cent (p less than
0.01). The LPL activity showed a significant negative correlation with the
logarithm of serum triglyceride concentration (r = -0.62) and a positive
correlation with fractional removal of Intralipid (r = +0.64) and
fractional turnover of V triglyceride (r = +0.40). The activity of LPL was
correlated to basal plasma insulin concen tration in the insulin-deficient
diabetes r = +0.34) but not in patients with maturity-onset-type diabetes.
The hepatic lipase (HL) activity of postheparin plasma was similar in
diabetes and controls, with the exception of hypertriglyceridemic
maturity-onset diabetics, who had higher mean HL activity than the
corresponding control group (p greater than 0.01). The activity of HL was
not related to triglyceride removal but showed a significant correlation to
VLDL-triglyceride production rate. On the basis of these results it seems
that a deficiency of LPL accounts for a great deal of the elevation of
serum triglyceride in insulin-deficient human diabetes but has a smaller
role in the pathogenesis of the hypertriglyceridemia that is associated
with maturity-onset diabetes. The latter abnormality is caused mainly by an
increased secretion of triglycerides into the blood even though a decreased
LPL may contribute to development of hyperlipemia in cases with gross
elevation of serum triglycerides.