Serum Non-esterified Fatty Acid Levels Research Articles

Fat bodies and reproduction in female Anolis carolinensis

AbstractThe role of the fat body in supporting ovarian growth was studied in the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Environmental and social stimulation of ovarian growth in well‐fed animals was not accompanied by reductions in fat body weight or by increases in serum nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) levels. Adiposectomy had no effect on serum NEFA, but did reduce hepatic glycogen compared to sham‐operated controls. Adiposectomized lizards receiving injections (either hormone or carrier) also had lower hepatic glycogen levels when compared to uninjected controls. Administration of estradiol to ovariectomized lizards was effective in increasing serum levels of NEFAs, but had little effect on fat body weights. Follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) administration increased serum free fatty acid levels in sham‐operated lizards but was without effect in adiposectomized animals. It is concluded that the lipids contained in the lizard fat body are not preferentially utilized for reproduction and may not be used for that purpose if adequate energy is supplied from other sources.

養殖ハマチの血液・体成分に及ぼすそう類添加飼料の効果

The effect of algae as feed supplementary was determined on yellow tail Seriola quinqueradiata in terms of serological parameters and proximate composition of the dorsal muscle. Fish of 144g in body weight were reared for 60 days in floating nets. Control group was fed on sand lance Ammodytes personatus.One percent of hot water-extract from Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorella-extract group) or 0.5% of kelp Laminaria digitata (kelp meal group) was supplemented to the above basal diet (sand lance). The supplementaries had no effect on body weight gain or feed conversion efficiency. The kelp meal depressed the lipid, non-protein nitrogen, and amino nitrogen levels in the serum, and elevated the muscle lipid level. Chlorella-extract, however, did not cause significant alteration in serum constituents and proximate composition of the muscle.After 60 days of feeding, the fish were kept in indoor tanks without feeding for 23 days. Body weight loss was not significantly distinct among the 3 groups. Nevertheless, the serum lipid and nonesterified fatty acid levels were characteristically changed under the starvation period in response to the dietary regimen. The muscle lipid loss was higher in the kelp meal group than the control group. Furthermore, the suppression of breakdown of muscle protein was found in the Chlorella-extract group and the kelp meal group.These results showed that the kelp meal contributed to accelerate the lipid deposition to the muscle and to mobilize the lipid to energy. The importance of algae supplement in yellow tail, was discussed in relation to improvement of lipid metabolism which had a close connection with the health condition of the fish.

Effect of nonesterified fatty acids on the stability of prostacyclin activity

The half-life of the platelet antiaggregatory activity of prostacyclin (PGI 2) is prolonged when PGI 2 is incubated in human plasma or in fatty-acid-free human albumin solutions. This “PGI 2-protective” effect is diminished when fatty acids are added to the incubate, and the diminution is proportional to the concentration of the nonesterified fatty acids added. Unsaturated fatty acids were more potent in causing this reduction than saturated acids. It is possible that nonesterified fatty acids displace PGI 2 from binding sites on the albumin molecule and that they may thus alter the biologic half-life of any circulating PGI 2. This observation may partly account for the well-documented association between reised serum nonesterified fatty acid levels and thrombosis/platelet activation.

Chlordecone-induced fat depletion in the male rat.

The principal objective of this study was to quantitate the anatomical and biochemical parameters associated with the depletion of body fat by the pesticide, chlordecone (CD, or Kepone). Groups of 5 male Sprague-Dawley rats (150-175 g) were fed a control diet or a diet containing 100 ppm CD for 5, 15, or 20 d. After the treatment period, animals were killed by exsanguination. Weight of the period epididymal fat pads was taken as the anatomical marker for the depletion of body fat. Blood levels of acetoacetate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) were measured as biochemical as biochemical markers for lipolysis of body fat depots. Serum enzymes (SGPT, ICD) and serum triglycerides were measured to assess liver damage. A consistent and significant difference was observed in the weight of epididymal fat pads between the control and each of the treatment groups. The reduction in epididymal fat reached a maximum of 60% in the CD-fed animals after 20 d. Circulating ketone bodies were not different in any of the treated-animal groups, indicating that CD treatment does not result in metabolic ketosis. Serum triglycerides and NEFA levels were not significantly different in treatment groups versus in controls. Serum transaminases and isocitrate dehydrogenase were not elevated by exposure to CD. These findings indicate that metabolic ketosis is not induced by dietary exposure to CD. Utilization of lipids as energy substrates appears to be the primary underlying mechanism responsible for the loss of body fat observed in CD-treated rats. It appears that CD induces a depletion of body fat stores as a consequence of altered energy balance of the animal.

Serum profile of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in patients with hyperlipoproteinemia under xantinol-nicotinate (XN) medication

The effect of 50 mg/kg body weight Xantinol-nicotinate (XN) on serum lipids and on non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) was tested in 94 out-patients with hyperlipoproteinemia Types Ha, IIb, IV and V. The lipids were measured before treatment, during a 3-week period of drug administration and 10 days after rejection. In each group of hyperlipoproteinemic patients the lipid lowering effect of XN was accompanied by a constant fall in serum NEFA levels. The time dependent course of NEFA showed that the higher the initial level, the longer the time span required to achieve the lowest values. In the context of the partially conflicting data on the hypolipidemic action of nicotinic acid and its derivatives, it is suggested that the constant decrease in NEFA induced by XN treatment might contribute significantly to the lipid lowering effect of this drug.

Effects of Skim Milk, Whole Milk and Light Cream on Serum Tryptophan Binding and Brain Tryptophan Concentrations in Rats

One hour after rats fasted for 13 hours consume a single meal of skim milk, whole milk, or light cream, serum nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations changed in direct proportion to the fat content of the diet: serum NEFA levels decreased in rats ingesting skim milk (0.09% fat) to 34% of fasting control values; in animals consuming whole milk (3.59% fat), levels dropped to 50% of fasting levels; these levels did not change significantly, however, in rats consuming light cream (18.26% fat). The percentages of total serum tryptophan not associated with albumin in rats ingesting skim milk, whole milk, or light cream were 22.2, 26.0, and 42.5%, respectively. These variations in serum free tryptophan were not accompanied by significant differences in brain tryptophan among the three treatment groups. These results thus confirm that, with a natural food source, (a) postprandial serum NEFA levels reflect the total fat content of the diet; (b) serum free tryptophan concentration shift proportionately with serum NEFA; and (c) serum free tryptophan concentrations do not reliably predict brain tryptophan levels.

Effect of a diabetogeic factor from bovine adenohypophysis on dog serum nefa levels

1. 1. Fasted dog serum non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) levels were elevated 10 and 34 hours after administration of a diabetogenic protein (BDF) isolated from bovine adenohypophysis. 2. 2. The fasting serum NEFA were elevated in spite of the presence of normal or high glucose and insulin levels. 3. 3. After oral glucose administration to BDF-treated animals, a fall of serum NEFA paralleled inversely the increasing levels of blood glucose and serum insulin. 4. 4. These data are discussed with respect to the insulin-antagonistic action of BDF. Even though the plasma NEFA fell in response to glucose in BDF-treated animals, the NEFA during the entire 3-hour glucose-tolerance test were always significantly higher than the levels observed in the control tests. 5. 5. Since BDF is similar to the diabetogenic protein isolated from the urine of patients with lipoatrophic diabetes, its lipid-mobilizing action might help to explain the lipoatrophy, hyperlipaemia, diabetes mellitus, and insulin resistance seen in lipoatrophic diabetic patients.

The measurement of non-esterified fatty acids in icteric body fluids

A method is described for the determination of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in biological fluids in the presence of bilirubin, which interferes. The mechanism of the interference is discussed. Ranges of serum and amniotic fluid NEFA levels in patients undergoing management of Rh-incompatible pregnancies are given. The maternal serum: amniotic fluid for NEFA is of the order of 24:1.

HEPARIN AND HUMAN LIPID METABOLISM

Blood-samples were collected from healthy volunteers before a test-meal of fat or carbohydrate or before a prolonged fast, and then before and after the intravenous injection of heparin. The serum was analysed biochemically and was tested in a tissue-culture model designed to assess the intracellular deposition of lipids. Heparin led to increased lipid deposition, and this could be correlated with an increase in serum-levels of non-esterified fatty acids (N.E.F.A.), but not with the decreased concentration of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids. This heparin-induced lipid deposition was more striking in hypercholesterolæmic individuals. Intracellular lipid deposition is reversible. Gas-liquid chromotography suggested that fatty acids tend to become saturated as they are incorporated within the tissue-culture cells. Taken together with other published evidence that high N.E.F.A. levels are associated with arrhythmias and death in patients with myocardial infarction, these results point to a possible danger in the use of heparin in such cases, and to the need for further work on the role of N.E.F.A. in coronary heart-disease and for controlled trials of the value of heparin in the treatment and prevention of acute myocardial infarction.

Studies on poisoning by macrozamia communis—I : Biochemical disturbances in the liver

Oral administration to rats of kernels of Macrozamia communis induced changes in liver lysosomes and mitochondria prior to the onset of periacinar necrosis. Within 3 hr of poisoning with macrozamia the rate of release of β-glycerophosphate phosphatase from light mitochondrial fractions increased. This change was more pronounced after 6 hr. A similar change was induced by carbon tetrachloride and ethionine, but not by lasiocarpine or thioacetamide. Mitochondria isolated from livers of rats 6 hr after administration of macrozamia showed inhibition of NAD-dependent enzymes and an increased rate of swelling in the absence of substrate. Secretion of triglyceride from the liver of poisoned rats was inhibited, and triglyceride accumulated in the liver. Serum non-esterified fatty acid levels rose and serum triglyceride levels fell after poisoning with macrozamia. Protein synthesis was inhibited in the liver of rats treated with macrozamia. Density gradient centrifugation of post-mitochondrial and ribosomal fractions revealed a breakdown in polysomes after poisoning. The results are discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of lesions induced in the liver by macrozamia.

The effects of human growth hormone on the metabolic balance and energy utilization following burns.

Summary1. The metabolic effects of human growth hormone were studied in six patients who sustained moderate to severe burns averaging 30% of the body surface area.2. Two normal controls were also studied.3. The patients and the controls were placed on a constant intake of 9.0 gm of nitrogen/m2 of body surface and 1500 cal/m2 and complete balance studies of nitrogen, potassium, sodium and chloride were carried out for 16 days.4. When growth hormone was given, increased storage of nitrogen, potassium, sodium and chloride and weight gain occurred, but with marked variability from patient to patient and even in the same patient at various times post‐burn.5. The administration of growth hormone was associated with an increase in oxygen utilization which, however, did not show a quantitative relationship with the degree of nitrogen storage.6. Fat mobilization was indicated by a sustained increase in serum nonesterified fatty acid levels with growth hormone administration.7. The most striking nitrogen retention occurred in the early anabolic phase and not during the height of the catabolic phase.

Serum nefa following fat, carbohydrate and protein ingestion, and during fasting as related to intracellular lipid deposition

Summary The design of this controlled clinical trial permits direct quantitative comparison of changes in the concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids, triglycerides, total cholesterol and phospholipids following fat, carbohydrate and protein test meals and during the prolonged fasting state. Direct comparison can also be made, after carbohydrate ingestion and during the prolonged fasting state, between the concentration of these serum lipid constituents and previous serum measurements of intracel-lular lipid deposition in human aortic cells and MAF cells in tissue culture. The data collected in this controlled randomized clinical trial permitting a direct comparison of changes in serum lipid concentration demonstrate that: (1) Fat ingestion was folio wed in postprandial serum specimens (3–9 hours) by a marked increase in NEFA, a moderate increase in triglycerides, a slight increase in phospholipids and no change in total cholesterol concentration. (2) Carbohydrate ingestion was followed by a sharp decrease and then an over-shoot of serum NEFA concentration. Other lipid measurements were unchanged. (3) Protein ingestion was followed by a moderate decrease and then a gradual rise to just above the initial fasting level of serum NEFA concentration. Other lipid measurements were unchanged. (4) During the prolonged fasting state there was a continuous increase in the serum NEFA concentration with no change in the other lipid measurements. There was a remarkable parallelism between the sharp dip after carbohydrate ingestion and the continuous rise during the prolonged fasting state of serum non-esterified fatty acid levels, and the changes in intracellular lipid deposition in tissue culture cells from serum specimens collected under similar experimental conditions.

Serum nonesterified fatty acid levels in human pregnancy as determined by various titration procedures

Summary 1. Serum NEFA levels have been studied in nonpregnant patients, pregnant patients near term, and patients on the delivery table. 2. Patients at delivery have higher NEFA levels than patients near term, while those near term have higher NEFA levels than nonpregnant patients. 3. Several variations in the titration procedure have been investigated. 4. The following have been shown to affect the value of NEFA obtained: (a) ratio of heptane and water added to serum and extraction mixture, (b) single extraction technique versus double extraction technique versus acid wash technique, and (c) nature of the indicator used for titration. 5. None of the above variations seems likely to explain the marked variability in NEFA levels in late pregnancy which appear in the literature.

Acute effect of psychologic stimuli upon plasma non-esterified fatty acid level.

Summary1. Serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and triglyceride (TG) levels were measured in four normal individuals during difficult levels of emotional arousal. 2. Periods of arousal in which feelings of anxiety and/or hostility were evoked were accompanied by rises in serum NEFA levels, but not of TG levels.