lower-cholesterol-7.matches:
lower cholesterol
Serum cholesterol and leptin levels in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Atmaca M, Kuloglu M, Tezcan E, Gecici O, Ustundag B.

Department of Psychiatry, Firat University, School of Medicine, Elazig, Turkey. matmaca_p yahoo.com

The association between low or lowered cholesterol and impulsivity, aggressive behaviours and suicide remains controversial. In the present study, cholesterol and leptin levels of patients with borderline personality disorder in whom impulsivity, aggressive behaviours and suicide attempts are clearly established have been compared with those of healthy controls. The study group consisted of 16 patients with borderline personality disorder and 16 healthy controls. All patients were assessed with the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS), Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Fasting serum cholesterol and leptin levels were measured. The mean cholesterol and leptin levels of the patient group were significantly lower than those of the controls. Likewise, the patients with current suicidal thoughts and a history of suicide attempt had statistically significantly lower cholesterol and leptin levels compared with the patients without those features. There was an inverse correlation between both cholesterol and leptin levels, and impulsivity as determined by the BIS or aggression as determined by the BDHI, but no correlation between both cholesterol and leptin levels and the HDRS was found in the patients. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that the patients with borderline personality disorder have lower cholesterol and leptin levels than healthy controls. Low serum cholesterol and leptin levels are associated with all dimensions of the disorder - impulsivity, aggression and suicidality - but are not associated with the presence and the severity of comorbid depression. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12097803&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-7.matches:
lower cholesterol
Effects of hydrophobic and hydrophilic bile salt mixtures on cholesterol crystallization in model biles.

Venneman NG, Huisman SJ, Moschetta A, vanBerge-Henegouwen GP, van Erpecum KJ.

Gastrointestinal Research Unit, Department of Gastroenterology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The hydrophilic bile salt ursodeoxycholate is frequently used to dissolve cholesterol gallstones. We have now quantitated crystallization as a function of bile salt hydrophobicity, phospholipid content, cholesterol saturation and total lipid concentration (TLCo). METHODS: Crystallization in supersaturated model biles with low phospholipid contents (left two-phase-micelles and crystal-containing-zone) was assessed during 21 days by microscopy and chemical measurement of crystal mass. For model biles with higher phospholipid contents (central three-phase-micelles, vesicles and crystal-containing-zone), lipid distribution into various phases was determined by combined ultracentrifugation-filtration-dialysis methodology (Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1532 (2001) 15-27). RESULTS: In the left two-phase zone, crystal numbers and masses were highest in case of more hydrophilic bile salt composition (TUDC 100%>TC/TUDC 70%/30%>TC 100%>TC/TDC 70%/30%>TDC 100%) and decreased with increasing phospholipid contents, lower TLCo and lower cholesterol saturation index (CSI). In contrast, in the presence of vesicles (three-phase zone), crystallization decreased at increasing bile salt hydrophilicity, with concomitant increased vesicular cholesterol solubilization. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of vesicular phases is a prerequisite for inhibition of cholesterol crystallization by tauroursodeoxycholate.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12117566&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-7.matches:
lower cholesterol
Oral contraceptives and cholesterol.

[No authors listed]

PIP: Women with high cholesterol, who are successfully controlling it by diet, exercise, medication, or a combination of these treatments, may be able to safely use oral contraceptives (OCs). OCs change the lipid profile but keep it within the normal range. They do not increase the risk of the types of heart disease linked to high cholesterol. Women who use the higher dose OCs do not have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular disease. Animal studies show that the OC protects against development of atherosclerosis. The estrogen component may provide this protection. It may protect against the development of coronary heart disease. Women with a rare genetic form of high cholesterol or severely high cholesterol that does not respond to medication may need to use another contraceptive method than OCs. Other risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women are sedentary lifestyle, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, obesity (30% above ideal weight), high blood pressure, and a family history of heart disease. Older OC users should not smoke. If so, they should use another method. The first steps to lower cholesterol are exercise and modifying the diet, especially reducing the amount of saturated fat. Foods high in saturated fat are meat, dairy products, and eggs. If these fail, persons with high cholesterol need medication.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12290847&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
[Drug therapy of hyperlipidemia. Current status in Germany]

[Article in German]

Schaefer JR.

Zentrum Innere Medizin-Schwerpunkt Kardiologie, AG Praventive Kardiologie, Philipps-Universitat Marburg. Juergen.Schaefer mailer.uni-marburg.de

BACKGROUND: Hyperlipidemia is an important, maybe the most important, risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Therefore lowering elevated cholesterol is crucial for primary and secondary prevention. Dietary treatment but also drug therapy is frequently used to lower cholesterol in our days. STATINS: Drug therapy with statins has shown to be beneficial in clinical studies. Patients at a high risk for CAD will benefit mostly of drug treatment with a statin and in one out of 13 high-risk patients statin treatment will prevent one serious cardiovascular event [NNT (number needed to treat) = 13]. This is the reason for the success story of statins in the last decade. In Germany more than 700 million defined daily doses of lipid-lowering drugs are prescribed per year, which is sufficient for continuous treatment of 1.9 million patients. However, the broad use of statins came along with some thoughtlessness towards side effects. Safety laboratory values were not determined, contraindications were not considered to be serious enough and the lack of clinical endpoint studies was neglected. In addition there was an attempt to disregulate statins as "over the counter drugs" in the US--an attempt which was stopped by the intervention of the FDA. This practice ended in a series of severe side effects and led to the withdrawal of cerivastatin, a new statin from the market. If this will influence the drug treatment of hyperlipidemia needs to be seen.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11820153&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
Hyperandrogenism, postprandial hyperinsulinism and the risk of PCOS in a cross sectional study of women with epilepsy treated with valproate.

Luef G, Abraham I, Trinka E, Alge A, Windisch J, Daxenbichler G, Unterberger I, Seppi K, Lechleitner M, Kramer G, Bauer G.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. gerhard.luef uibk.ac.at

Among a sample of 43 women with epilepsy treated for at least 2 years with valproate (n=22) or other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) (n=21), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) was diagnosed in three women, two of them were treated with valproate. Although the rate of PCOS and of menstrual disturbances, weight body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio as well as fasting blood glucose levels, fasting insulin, proinsulin and C-peptide values was similar in this small sample of women treated with valproate and other AEDs, valproate exposure was associated with higher androgen levels, higher postprandial (pp) insulin and proinsulin levels, as well as lower cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The pronounced increase in pp insulin levels during VPA treatment may indicate an effect of the fatty acid derivate VPA on pancreatic islet cells.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11823113&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
Apo AI/ABCA1-dependent and HDL3-mediated lipid efflux from compositionally distinct cholesterol-based microdomains.

Drobnik W, Borsukova H, Bottcher A, Pfeiffer A, Liebisch G, Schutz GJ, Schindler H, Schmitz G.

Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University of Regensburg, Germany.

We have investigated whether a raft heterogeneity exists in human monocyte-derived macrophages and fibroblasts and whether these microdomains are modulated by lipid efflux. Triton X-100 (Triton) or Lubrol WX (Lubrol) detergent-resistant membranes from cholesterol-loaded monocytes were associated with the following findings: (i) Lubrol-DRM contained most of the cellular cholesterol and at least 75% of Triton-detergent-resistant membranes. (ii) 'Lubrol rafts', defined by their solubility in Triton but insolubility in Lubrol, were enriched in unsaturated phosphatidylcholine and showed a lower cholesterol to choline-phospholipid ratio compared to Triton rafts. (iii) CD14 and CD55 were recovered in Triton- and Lubrol-detergent-resistant membranes, whereas CD11b was found exclusively in Triton DRM. ABCA1 implicated in apo AI-mediated lipid efflux and CDC42 were partially localized in Lubrol- but not in Triton-detergent-resistant membranes. (iv) Apo AI preferentially depleted cholesterol and choline-phospholipids from Lubrol rafts, whereas HDL3 additionally decreased the cholesterol content of Triton rafts. In fibroblasts, neither ABCA1 nor CDC42 was found in Lubrol rafts, and both apo AI and HDL3 reduced the lipid content in Lubrol- as well as in Triton-detergent-resistant membranes. In summary, we provide evidence for the existence of compositionally distinct membrane microdomains in human cells and their modulation by apo AI/ABCA1-dependent and HDL3-mediated lipid efflux.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11929608&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
Serum cholesterol and psychological distress in hospitalized depressed patients.

Borgherini G, Dorz S, Conforti D, Scarso C, Magni G.

Casa di Cura, Parco dei Tigli, Affective Disorders Unit, Padova, Italy. ud.tigli gpnet.it

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between total serum cholesterol and various psychosocial variables in depressed in-patients. METHOD: One hundred and eighty-six patients had their total fasting serum cholesterol assessed following admission; psychiatric diagnoses were obtained with the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID) interview. Psychopathology was measured with a clinician rated scale [Montgomery and Asberg Depressive Rating Scale (MADRS)] and a self-rating scale [Symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90)]. RESULTS: Univariate analyses showed lower total serum cholesterol levels being correlated with higher scores in several psychopathological areas. Multivariate analyses indicated that male gender, lower age and higher MADRS scores were the most predictive variables for lower cholesterol levels. CONCLUSION: The data suggest, in this depressed population, an association between serum cholesterol and depressive symptoms. What is the cause and what is its effect is not possible to say from this cross-sectional study.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11939964&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
Opposite effects of plasma from human apolipoprotein A-II transgenic mice on cholesterol efflux from J774 macrophages and Fu5AH hepatoma cells.

Fournier N, Cogny A, Atger V, Pastier D, Goudouneche D, Nicoletti A, Moatti N, Chambaz J, Paul JL, Kalopissis AD.

Laboratoire de Biochimie, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Chatenay-Malabry, France. natalie_fournier yahoo.fr

Overexpression of human apolipoprotein A-II (hapo A-II) in transgenic mice (hAIItg mice) induced marked hypertriglyceridemia and low levels of plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) with a high hapo A-II content. We sought to determine whether cholesterol efflux to plasma and HDL from these mice would be affected. In the Fu5AH cell system, plasma from hAIItg mice induced a markedly lower cholesterol efflux than did control plasma, in accordance with the dependence of efflux on HDL concentration. Moreover, HDLs from hAIItg mice were less effective acceptors than were control HDLs. In the J774 macrophage cell system, pretreatment with cAMP, which upregulates ATP binding cassette transporter 1, induced a marked increase in the efflux to hAIItg plasma as well as to purified hapo A-I and hapo A-II, whereas it had no effect on cholesterol efflux to control plasma. A strong positive correlation was established between percent cAMP stimulation of efflux and plasma hapo A-II concentration. The cAMP stimulation of efflux to hAIItg mouse plasma may be linked to the presence of pre-beta migrating HDL containing hapo A-II. Thus, despite lower HDL and apolipoprotein A-I contents, the increased ability of plasma from hAIItg mice to extract cholesterol from macrophage-like cells may have an antiatherogenic influence.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11950703&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-12.matches:
lower cholesterol
Single repeat deletion in ApoA-I blocks cholesterol esterification and results in rapid catabolism of delta6 and wild-type ApoA-I in transgenic mice.

Sorci-Thomas MG, Thomas M, Curtiss L, Landrum M.

Department of Pathology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA. msthomas wfubmc.edu

The deletion mutation Delta6 apolipoprotein A-I lacks residues 143-164 or repeat 6 in the mature apoA-I protein. In vitro studies show this mutation dramatically reduces the rate of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) catalyzed cholesterol esterification. The present study was initiated to investigate the effect of this mutation on in vivo high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol esterification and metabolism. Transgenic mice expressing human Delta6 apoA-I (TgDelta6 +/+) were created and then crossed with apoA-I knockout mice (-/-) to generate mice expressing only human Delta6 apoA-I (TgDelta6 -/-). Human Delta6 apoA-I was associated with homogeneous sized alpha-HDL, when wild-type mouse apoA-I was present (in TgDelta6 +/+ and +/- mice). However, in the absence of endogenous mouse apoA-I, Delta6 apoA-I was found exclusively in cholesterol ester-poor HDL, and lipid-free HDL fractions. This observation coincides with the 6-fold lower cholesterol ester mass in TgDelta6 -/- mouse plasma compared with control. Structural studies show that despite the structural perturbation of a domain extending from repeat 5 to repeat 8 (137-178), Delta6 apoA-I binds to spherical unilamellar vesicles with only 2-fold less binding affinity. In summary, these data show a domain corresponding to apoA-I repeat 6 is responsible for providing an essential conformation for LCAT catalyzed generation of cholesterol esters. Deletion of apoA-I repeat 6 not only blocks normal levels of cholesterol esterification but also exerts a dominant inhibition on the ability of wild-type apoA-I to activate LCAT in vivo.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10766851&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol



lower-cholesterol-8.matches:
lower cholesterol
Effect of dietary linoleic acid on the progression of chronic renal failure in rats.

Gregorio SM, Lemos CC, Caldas ML, Bregman R.

Divisao de Patologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi, 22240-070 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The role of linoleic acid in chronic renal failure (CRF) is controversial. In the present study 21 male Wistar rats submitted to 5/6 renal mass reduction (R) and 16 normal controls (C) were fed a supplement (S) or normal (N) linoleic acid diet for 60 days starting 10 days after CRF. As expected, serum creatinine, cholesterol and triglycerides (mean +/- SEM) were higher in the CRF groups compared to the C groups (P<0.05). The RS group presented lower cholesterol (84 +/- 4 vs 126 +/- 13 mg%) and triglyceride (88 +/- 9 vs 132 +/- 19 mg%) levels compared to the RN group. Proteinuria and kidney weight did not differ between CRF groups. Glomerular area increased 78% in RS and 100% in RN compared to control rats. Glomerular sclerosis index tended to be lower in RS (27%) compared to RN (38%), tubulointerstitial damage was similar between CRF groups (RS = 1.91 +/- 0.2 and RN = 2.14 +/- 0.3), and mesangial fractional volume increased to the same extent in both CRF groups. The data suggest that a linoleic acid-enriched diet did not protect against the progression of CRF after 60 days.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12011943&dopt=Abstract lower cholesterol