Impact of insulin resistance on lipoprotein subpopulation distribution in lean and morbidly obese nondiabetic women

• Published in: Metabolism, clinical and experimental Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 285 - 292
• Main Authors: MacLean, Paul S., Vadlamudi, Satyaprasad, MacDonald, Kenneth G., Pories, Walter J., Houmard, Joseph A., Barakat, Hisham A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-03-2000; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - anatomy & histology; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Body Mass Index; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Cholesterol, LDL - blood; Female; Humans; Insulin - blood; Insulin Resistance; Lipoproteins - blood; Lipoproteins, HDL - blood; Lipoproteins, LDL - blood; Lipoproteins, VLDL - blood; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity, Morbid - blood; Obesity, Morbid - physiopathology; Oxygen Consumption; Thinness; Triglycerides - blood; Human; Obesity; Pancreatic hormone; Lipoprotein VLDL; Pathophysiology; Nutrition disorder; Metabolism; Insulin; Lipoprotein LDL; Protein hormone; Target tissue resistance; Lipoprotein HDL; Nutritional status
• ISSN: 0026-0495; 1532-8600
• DOI: 10.1016/S0026-0495(00)80002-5

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of insulin resistance on the lipoprotein subpopulation distribution of very-low-density, low-density, and high-density lipoproteins (VDL, LDL, and HDL) in lean and morbidly obese nondiabetic women. Lean women (body mass index [BMI], 20 to 27 kg/m
2) stratified by BMI were divided into insulin -sensitive (SL, n = 12) and insulin-resistant (RL, n=8) groups according to Bergman's minimal model, S
1. A group of obese women (BMI, 30 to 53 kg/m
2), also stratified by BMI, were divided into insulin-sensitive (SO, n=10) and insulin-resistant (RO, n=11) groups in a similar fashion. Resistant groups were similar to sensitive groups (SL
v RL and SO
v RO) in age, weight, percent body fat, and waist cicumference, ie, total and regional adiposity. VLDL, LDL, and HDL subpopulation distributions were determined in fasting plasma samples by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The average particle sizes of all 3 classes of lipoproteins were similar for the SL and RL groups. In contrast, RO subjects had larger VLDL, smaller LDL, and smaller HDL, than SO subjects (
P < .05). Lower concentrations of large LDL and large HDL were found in RO compared with SO subjects (
P < .05). In obese women, but not in lean women, VLDL size was associated with plasma insulin (
r = .60,
P < .005), while LDL size and HDL size were negatively correlated with plasma insulin (
r = -.39,
P < 0.05 and
r = -.38,
P < .05) and positively correlated with S
1 (
r =.54,
P < .01 and
r = .42,
P < .05). These results suggest that in obese women, insulin resistance may be involved in the formation of lipoprotein subpopulation distributions that are associated with vascular disease.