Lipoprotein associated phospholipase A2 activity & its correlation with oxidized LDL & glycaemic status in early stages of type-2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Lipoprotein associated phospholipase A 2 (Lp-PLA 2 ) is an important risk predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD). This study was aimed to evaluate Lp-PLA 2 activity and oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in newly diagnosed patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus and to determine the correlation of Lp-PLA 2 activity with oxLDL and plasma glucose levels. METHODS: Blood samples were collected in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (n=40) before any treatment was started and healthy controls (n=40). These were processed for estimating plasma glucose: fasting and post prandial, ox LDL, and Lp-PLA2 activity. The parameters in the two groups were compared. Correlation between different parameters was calculated by Pearson correlation analysis in both groups. RESULTS: Lp-PLA 2 activity (24.48 ± 4.91 vs 18.63 ± 5.29 nmol/min/ml, P<0.001) and oxLDL levels (52.46 ± 40.19 vs 33.26 ± 12.54 µmol/l, P<0.01) were significantly higher in patients as compared to those in controls. Lp-PLA 2 activity correlated positively with oxLDL in both controls (r=0.414, P<0.01), as well in patients (r=0.542, P<0.01). A positive correlation between Lp-PLA 2 activity and fasting plasma glucose levels was observed only in patients (r=0.348, P<0.05). INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Result of this study implies that higher risk of CAD in patients with diabetes may be due to increase in Lp-PLA 2 activity during the early course of the disease. A positive correlation between enzyme activity and fasting plasma glucose indicates an association between hyperglycaemia and increased activity of Lp-PLA2. This may explain a higher occurrence of CAD in patients with diabetes. A positive correlation between oxLDL and Lp-PLA2 activity suggests that Lp-PLA2 activity may be affected by oxLDL also.

Efforts to cope with CBME in COVID-19 era to teach biochemistry in medical college.

The COVID-19 outbreak has shut down universities and prompted the teaching faculty to move to online resources. In view of upcoming of new Medical Council of India (MCI) curriculum and outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, keeping pace with medical education became a challenge. To keep on par with learning activities of undergraduate students during this period, the teaching faculty adopted the use of online resources. E-learning tools were utilized to engage first-year undergraduate students and satisfy majority of aspects of Competency-Based Undergraduate Medical Curriculum/Education (CBMC/E) in Biochemistry.

The association between insulin and low-density lipoprotein receptors.

The insulin receptor (IR) and low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) maintain glucose and lipid metabolism, respectively. Diabetes is associated with increased blood glucose, dyslipidaemia and increased risk of atherosclerosis. We hypothesise that interactions between IR and LDLR play a role in the atherosclerotic process in subjects with diabetes. Therefore, in this work we studied potential interactions between these two receptors. Our data show an intracellular and surface membrane-bound co-association of IR and LDLR. The co-association makes LDLR functionally poor in clearing extra-cellular LDL particles. A short 10 min exposure of cells to insulin disrupts the association between the two receptors and generates LDLR with higher LDL clearing activity without any change in protein expression. This co-association of LDLR with IR and their dissociation by insulin may be an important part of the regulatory mechanism of the normal physiological receptor function in a biological system. Modulation of receptor co-association is potentially a therapeutic target to reduce cardiovascular risk, and further studies are needed to investigate this possibility.