Presence of very low density lipoprotein compositional abnormalities in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients; effects of blood glucose optimisation.

Plasma lipoprotein compositional abnormalities were investigated in eight normolipidaemic (plasma cholesterol less than 5.70 mmol/l; triglyceride less than 2.03 mmol/l) young male Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients (before and after a short period of optimised blood glucose control) and in nine healthy control subjects, matched for sex, age and body mass index. Free and esterified cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipids were assayed in all lipoprotein classes (VLDL, IDL, LDL) and in HDL subclasses (HDL2 and HDL3); apoB was measured only in very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). All VLDL constituents were increased in the diabetic group, the differences being more striking for apoB (6.0 +/- 1.1 mg/dl vs 2.0 +/- 0.1 mg/dl, p less than 0.02), free cholesterol (0.27 +/- 0.04 mmol/l vs 0.13 +/- 0.02 mmol/l, p less than 0.02) and esterified cholesterol (0.32 +/- 0.08 mmol/l vs 0.13 +/- 0.01 mmol/l, p less than 0.05). Also HDL subfractions showed differences between the two groups: all HDL2 constituents were increased, while in HDL3 only triglyceride was significantly increased (0.11 +/- 0.01 mmol/l vs 0.08 +/- 0.004 mmol/l, p less than 0.02). After two weeks of optimised blood glucose control all VLDL constituents were reduced and particularly: esterified cholesterol (-39%, p less than 0.02), free cholesterol (-37%, p less than 0.05), apoB (-35%, p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)