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Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods Institute (M.-E.P., W.R.A., B.L.), Laval University, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4; Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (K.O.B., D.J.R.), School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104; Molecular Endocrinology and Oncology Research Center (A.T., C.R., V.L.-T.) and Lipid Research Center (J.B., P.C.), Centre hospitalier de lUniversité Laval Research Center, Québec, Canada G1V 4G2; Hôpital Laval Research Center (Y.D.), Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Québec, Canada G1V 4G5; and College of Pharmacy (N.B.), Touro University-California, Vallejo, California 94592
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Benoît Lamarche, Ph.D., Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods Institute, 2440 Boulevard Hochelaga, Laval University, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4. E-mail: benoit.lamarche{at}inaf.ulaval.ca.
| Abstract |
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Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate the association between levels of obesity and visceral adiposity in particular and plasma EL concentrations.
Methods: Postheparin plasma EL concentrations were measured by ELISA and visceral adiposity by computed tomography in a sample of 80 sedentary men in good health. EL mRNA levels in abdominal sc and omental adipose tissues obtained during abdominal hysterectomies were measured in another sample of 14 women.
Results: Plasma EL levels were positively correlated with body mass index (R = 0.46, P < 0.0001), visceral adipose tissue accumulation (R = 0.44, P < 0.0001), and a proatherogenic lipid profile including increased plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. However, EL mRNA levels were similar in sc and omental AT and were 10,000-fold lower than lipoprotein lipase mRNA levels in those tissues.
Conclusions: Increased visceral adiposity is significantly correlated with elevated plasma EL levels, but this association is unlikely to be causal and may reflect other common metabolic alterations.
| Introduction |
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Finally, many loss-of-function experiments have shown that in vivo inhibition of EL activity in animals was associated with increased HDL-C and apoA-I levels (5, 6, 7).
Badellino et al. (8) recently observed in the large Study of Inherited Risk of Atherosclerosis that EL concentrations in both pre- and postheparin plasma significantly correlated with body mass index (BMI) and subclinical atherosclerosis. Plasma EL levels were also significantly correlated with several features of the metabolic syndrome including waist circumference. Obesity is a heterogeneous condition, and there is now increasing evidence that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) accumulation more strongly predicts the degree of metabolic deteriorations associated with obesity than accumulation of fat in other body regions (9). However, the extent to which visceral fat accumulation and plasma EL levels are interrelated is currently unknown. Finally, it has been suggested that EL could provide an alternative pathway for free fatty acid uptake in LPL-deficient mouse adipose tissue (AT) (10). When LPL was expressed in AT and isolated murine adipocytes, EL mRNA was not detectable. In contrast, mouse AT and isolated adipocytes that lacked LPL expressed large amounts of EL mRNA.
The objectives of this study were to: 1) investigate the relationship between plasma EL mass and visceral adiposity; 2) investigate how variations in plasma EL mass correlate with lipoprotein concentrations among men with and without abdominal obesity; and 3) examine potential differences in EL expression levels in abdominal sc and omental AT.
| Subjects and Methods |
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Two samples of subjects were used for the purpose of the present study. A sample of 80 sedentary men was recruited in the Québec City metropolitan area and selected to cover a wide range of body fatness values to investigate the association between plasma EL levels and obesity. Individuals with endocrine, cardiovascular, hepatic, and renal disorders as well as those using medication affecting lipid metabolism, smokers, individuals with excessive alcohol intake and unstable weight within the year preceding the study were excluded from the study. The second sample included 14 women who were recruited through the elective surgery schedule of the Gynecology Unit of Laval University Medical Center. These middle-aged women (aged 47.5 ± 5.1 yr) underwent abdominal gynecological surgery for a nonmalignant disorder. AT and clinical/biological data of the present sample were used in a previous study on steroidogenic enzymes (11). Subcutaneous and omental AT from these women was used to investigate the in situ expression of EL. Each participant signed a consent form approved by the Clinical Research Ethical Committee of Laval University.
Anthropometrics and body composition measurements
Body weight and waist circumferences were measured according to standardized procedures (12). Total, sc, and VAT levels were measured by computed tomography as described previously (11, 13), and measures of total body fat mass in women were determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry as detailed (11).
Laboratory methods
Blood samples were collected after a 12-h fast into tubes containing disodium EDTA (0.03%) (13). Samples were then immediately centrifuged at 4 C for 10 min at 1500 x g to obtain plasma and were stored at 4 C with benzamidine (0.03%) until processed. TG-rich lipoproteins [very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), density < 1.006 g/ml] were separated by ultracentrifugation using a 50.3Ti Beckman Rotor at 93,000 x g (average), 4 C for 18 h. Plasma and lipoprotein lipid concentrations were determined enzymatically on an RA-500 autoanalyzer (Technicon RA-500 analyzer, Bayer Corp., Tarrytown, NY), as previously described (14). HDL-C was measured in the supernatant collected after heparin-chloride and MnCl2 precipitation of apoB-containing lipoproteins in plasma (15). Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol was calculated using the Friedwald formula. The lipid content of the HDL2 and HDL3 subfractions was also determined on the Technicon RA-500 analyzer after further precipitation of HDL2 with dextran sulfate (16).
Intravascular enzyme activities and mass
Postheparin plasma EL levels were measured by an ELISA using a polyclonal antibody as described previously (8). Briefly, purified rabbit antihuman EL IgG was labeled with biotin using an EZlink Sulfo-NHS-LC biotinylation kit (Pierce, Rockford, IL). Various concentrations of purified EL were added to the wells as a standard for the assay. Detection of specifically bound protein was accomplished by incubation with biotin-conjugated rabbit antihuman EL antibody followed by streptavidin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. Color was developed using o-phenylenediamine, and the reaction was stopped with sulfuric acid. The plate was read at 490 nm. The plasma EL concentration was determined in triplicate in each individual using plasma sampled 10 min after injection of a bolus of heparin (60 IU/kg body weight). The intraassay variability was 6.8%, and the interassay variability was 10.3% (8).
AT sampling and analysis
Omental (epiploic) and sc AT samples from each female participant were collected during the surgical procedure and immediately carried to the laboratory in 0.9% saline preheated to 37 C. A portion of the biopsy was used for adipocyte isolation, and the remaining tissue was immediately frozen at 80 C for subsequent analyses (19). Cell size measurements have been performed as detailed previously (11). Total RNA was isolated from whole tissue samples using QIAzol (RNeasy lipid tissue kit, QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, CA), according to the manufacturers recommendations. First-strand cDNA synthesis was accomplished as specified (11). For quantitative PCR analyses, a Light-Cycler PCR (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN) was used to measure the mRNA abundance of lipases. The following sets of primers were used: 5'-acc-aat-atg-ccc-cag-acg-tga-gac-3' and 5'-cct-ccc-gaa-tct-cag-cca-taa-aaa-gt-3' for LPL cDNA, 5'-tgg-atc-ttt-cgg-act-gag-gcc-t-3' and 5'-atg-cag-gcc-aat-ggt-agg-gac-t-3' for EL cDNA. Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1 was used as the housekeeping gene and was measured using the primers 5'-agt-tct-gtg-gcc-atc-tgc-tta-gta-g-3' and 5'-aaa-caa-caa-tcc-gcc-caa-agg-3'.
Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed using SAS (version 8.2; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Spearmans correlation coefficients were calculated, and partial correlations between plasma EL levels and variables of the lipid profile were used to adjust for variations in age and visceral adiposity. The combined impact of visceral obesity and postheparin plasma EL levels on the HDL profile was investigated by stratifying participants on the basis of the median of EL mass distribution (<872 ng/ml or
872 ng/ml) and then VAT levels (<137.2 cm2 or
137.2 cm2). Differences between subgroups were assessed by ANOVA. Multiple comparisons among groups were performed using the post hoc Duncan multiple range test. All results are reported as means ± SD, unless otherwise specified. Differences were considered significant at P < 0.05.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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The association between postheparin LPL and HL activities and obesity has been thoroughly investigated in the past. Elevated levels of intraabdominal fat are associated with high-plasma HL activity, which in turn contributes to the dyslipidemia generally observed among viscerally obese individuals (20, 21). On the other hand, plasma LPL activity has not been systematically correlated to total adiposity or VAT (20). In the present study, significant positive correlations among total, sc, and visceral AT levels and plasma EL concentration (P < 0.0001) were found. These results are concordant with those of Badellino et al. (8), who also reported significant positive correlations between plasma postheparin EL levels and BMI and waist girth among men and women. It should also be noted that the correlations in men between indices of obesity and plasma EL levels in the study by Badellino et al. and our own study were of the same magnitude. Taken altogether, these results suggest a strong link between EL and obesity but with visceral obesity per se. The present study also revealed positive correlations between plasma EL levels and a more proatherogenic lipid profile. The associations among total cholesterol, TG, VLDL-apoB, and plasma EL levels remained significant when further adjusted for variations in VAT levels. Badellino et al. (8) also reported significant and positive correlations between plasma postheparin EL mass and plasma TG, total cholesterol, and apoB concentrations and a negative correlation with plasma HDL-C levels in their sample of men and women. However, because EL has been shown to have more affinity for HDL particles than TG-rich lipoprotein and to preferentially hydrolyze PLs rather than TGs, its implication in modulating the metabolism of apoB-containing lipoproteins is more likely to be indirect.
Using animal models, previous studies demonstrated that overexpression of EL was associated with substantial reductions in plasma HDL-C and apoAI levels (1, 22). Conversely, EL knockout models in mice revealed significantly increased plasma HDL-C levels due to a reduced HDL clearance (7). The direct impact of EL on the metabolism of apoB-containing lipoproteins in previous animal studies has been less apparent (1). Our data in humans are generally concordant with these observations. However, the impact of physiological variations in plasma EL concentrations on HDL levels in humans appears to be more subtle than that observed in transgenic animal models. In this sample of men, the association between plasma EL levels and plasma HDL-C and HDL-PL levels was not significant, although again the magnitude of the correlation coefficients was similar to those reported earlier (8). Stratifying subjects into two groups based on the plasma EL concentration median (872 ng/dl) revealed that plasma HDL-PL levels were significantly lower in the group of men with arbitrarily elevated plasma EL levels, compared with men in the low EL group (P = 0.02, not shown). This difference remained significant after adjustment for VAT levels (P = 0.03, not shown). We also examined the potential synergy between abdominal obesity and elevated plasma EL concentrations in modulating the HDL profile. Levels of VAT and total and sc AT and plasma EL concentration did not interact to modulate plasma HDL-TG levels. However, increased EL concentration was associated with reduced plasma HDL-PL levels in men with arbitrarily low levels of VAT but not in viscerally obese men. A similar nonsignificant trend was observed for plasma HDL-C levels. These results suggest that EL may be a more important modulator of HDL metabolism in nonobese individuals. However, in the presence of a disturbed metabolic milieu such as the one generally observed in individuals with excess of AT levels, the contribution of EL to the deteriorated cardiovascular risk profile may be less important. Further studies are needed to confirm these observations.
It remains to be established whether a measure of in vivo activity instead of mass will yield similar observations. Previous studies have shown that the estimated LPL and HL activities obtained by immunoactivation were strongly correlated with lipase mass measured by sandwich-enzyme immunoassay in normolipidemic as well as hypertriglyceridemic subjects (23). Based on these observations, we assume that plasma EL mass as measured by our ELISA is likely representative of the plasma EL activity.
Correlation analyses in the present study suggested that the degree of abdominal adiposity measured by computed tomography may potentially modulate plasma EL levels. To investigate this hypothesis further, we used AT biopsies from abdominal sc and omental AT of women having had abdominal gynecological surgery for a nonmalignant disorders (11). To our knowledge, this is the first study of EL expression in AT in humans. We found that EL mRNA abundance in sc and omental AT was comparable and that the EL mRNA levels in these depots were extremely low (approximately 10,000-fold lower than those of LPL mRNA). Kratky et al. (10) detected significant levels of EL mRNA in AT of mice only in the absence of LPL. Based on these observations, which suggested that EL and LPL expression may be reciprocally regulated (10), and on the present work, we propose that when LPL is normally expressed and active in humans, EL expression in AT, including VAT, is negligible. These data do not invalidate the relationship observed between obesity and plasma EL levels among men but indicate that AT does not appear as an important source of intravascular EL in individuals without significant defects in LPL gene expression. It must be kept in mind that mRNA levels and protein levels do not always correlate. Posttranscriptional mechanisms can lead to substantial differences in expression. Nevertheless, our data suggest that it is very unlikely that VAT and sc fat contribute significantly to plasma EL levels. It is possible that there may be gender differences in the expression of EL in sc and visceral AT depots. Similar analyses in another sample of 15 morbidly obese men who underwent bariatric surgery confirmed that EL mRNA expression levels in abdominal and omental AT were comparable and extremely low (median levels around 500 copies, data not shown).
Taken together, our data have highlighted a relatively strong link between abdominal adiposity and plasma EL levels. Our data further suggested that variations in VAT levels may account for part of the association between plasma EL levels and features of an atherogenic lipoprotein-lipid profile. However, our EL mRNA expression experiments in AT suggest that the increased plasma EL levels observed among abdominally obese subjects may not originate from higher expression in AT. Therefore, the mechanism underlying the interrelationship among plasma EL, abdominal fat, and a proatherogenic lipid profile remains to be elucidated.
| Footnotes |
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Disclosure statement: The authors have nothing to disclose.
First Published Online June 13, 2006
Abbreviations: apo, Apolipoprotein; AT, adipose tissue; BMI, body mass index; EL, endothelial lipase; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; HDL-C, HDL-cholesterol; HL, hepatic lipase; LPL, lipoprotein lipase; PL, phospholipid; TG, triglyceride; VAT, visceral AT; VLDL, very low-density lipoprotein.
Received April 7, 2006.
Accepted June 1, 2006.
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