The short-term effect of cortisone acetate upon fasting triglyceride and cholesterol in normal subjects and offspring of diabetic couples

Abstract

Whereas the long-term effect of corticosteroid administration upon plasma lipids in man has been well documented, little is known of the shortterm effects, particularly in relationship to significant changes in lipid substrate or in hormones modulating or influencing lipid levels. Therefore, the acute effect of oral cortisone acetate administration given 8 1 2 and 2 hr prior to a morning fasting sample upon plasma triglyceride, cholesterol, free fatty acids, blood glucose, serum insulin, and growth hormone was evaluated in 12 nonobese, normal controls and in 21 offspring of two diabetic parents (six consistently glucose-tolerant and 15 with variable degrees of glucose intolerance). A significant and similar reduction of plasma triglyceride was seen in both subject groups after steroid administration. In addition, four subjects with borderline or definite type IV hyperlipoproteinemia reverted to a normal plasma lipoprotein electrophoretic pattern after cortisone. Cortisone administration also produced a significant increase of blood sugar level in both study groups. No significant alterations were noted in the levels of plasma cholesterol, free fatty acids, serum insulin, or growth hormone. The offspring group showed a significantly higher fasting blood sugar level than the normals following cortisone administration only, and the offspring showed significantly higher levels of plasma free fatty acids than the normals for the noncortisone samples. The magnitude of the triglyceride reduction after cortisone administration showed a highly significant positive correlation with the magnitude of the noncortisone base-line triglyceride level in both normal and offspring groups. These data suggest that cortisone or a cortisone metabolite has a relatively rapid and direct effect upon plasma triglyceride homeostasis in man.