Overweight and obesity in polycystic ovary syndrome: association with inflammation, oxidative stress and dyslipidaemia.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with altered lipid profile and increased small, dense LDL particles (sdLDL). Considering that paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is an antioxidative enzyme located on HDL particles, the aim of this study was to investigate the connection between oxidative stress (OS) and PON1 activity with lipoprotein subclasses in PCOS depending on obesity. In 115 PCOS patients, lipoprotein subclasses distributions were determined by gradient gel electrophoresis. OS status was assessed by total oxidative status (TOS), advanced oxidation protein products, malondialdehyde (MDA), prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB), total antioxidative status (TAS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and PON1 activity. Overweight/obese PCOS patients (n 55) had increased OS compared with normal weight patients (n 60). In addition, overweight/obese group had lower HDL size and higher proportion of HDL 3a subclasses (P < 0·05). PAB was in negative correlation with HDL 2a (P < 0·001), whereas MDA and SOD correlated positively with HDL 3 subclasses (P < 0·05). Serum PON1 activity was positively associated with proportions of PON1 activity on HDL 2b (P < 0·05) and 2a (P < 0·01), but negatively with the proportion on HDL 3 particles (P < 0·01). LDL B phenotype patients had increased TAS, SOD and PON1 activity on HDL 2b, but decreased PON1 activity on HDL 3 subclasses. OS is associated with altered lipoprotein subclasses distribution in PCOS patients. Obesity in PCOS affects the profile of HDL subclasses, reflected through the reduced proportion of PON1 activity on HDL 3 subclasses in the presence of sdLDL particles.

Increased Oxidized High-Density Lipoprotein/High-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Ratio as a Potential Indicator of Disturbed Metabolic Health in Overweight and Obese Individuals.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the qualitative characteristics of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles in metabolically healthy and unhealthy overweight and obese subjects. METHODS: The study involved 115 subject individuals classified as metabolically healthy and unhealthy, as in overweight and obese groups. Commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to measure oxidized HDL (OxHDL) and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations. Lipoprotein subfractions were separated using nondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: An independent association was shown between increased OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio and the occurrence of metabolically unhealthy phenotype in the overweight and obese groups. The OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio showed excellent and acceptable diagnostic accuracy in determination of metabolic health phenotypes (overweight group, AUC = 0.881; obese group, AUC = 0.765). Accumulation of smaller HDL particles in metabolically unhealthy subjects was verified by lipoprotein subfraction analysis. SAA concentrations did not differ significantly between phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Increased OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio may be a potential indicator of disturbed metabolic health in overweight and obese individuals.

Telomerase stability and evaluation of real-time telomeric repeat amplification protocol.

Telomerase is RNA directed polymerase which acts as reverse transcriptase based on its own RNA component. It is considered to be involved in the pathology of many diseases and is recognized as a potential biomarker. The aims were to determine the sample storage conditions and the time frame for samples analysis, then to prove reliability of enzyme activity measurement with real-time telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and to evaluate the suitable standard samples for telomerase activity measurements. Samples used for stability and freeze-thaw study were peripheral blood leukocytes, obtained from apparently healthy persons, patients with diagnosed cancer and cell lines. Telomerase activity was measured using TRAP method, while standard evaluation was done using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. Storage at -20 °C preserved telomerase activity in samples from cancer patients for at least 14 days (21.46 ± 0.135 versus 21.84 ± 0.357, p = .756), while samples obtained from healthy persons should be stored at -80 °C. We observed significant decrease of telomerase activity at freeze thaw cycle 5 in cancer patients' samples (21.46 ± 0.135 versus 23.09 ± 0.316, p < .05), and in healthy persons' ones already at cycle 3 (22.74 ± 0.107 versus 24.85 ± 0.151, p < .05). Telomerase activity from cell lines samples showed overall greater stability regarding the storage period and freeze-thaw cycles and it was considered for standard sample, which was confirmed by NMR analysis. Telomerase enzyme had adequate stability while efficacy, linearity, and reproducibility of TRAP method were acceptable for bio-analytical methods. All this indicated that telomerase could be a reliable biomarker.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors in 7-13 Years Old Children from Vojvodina (Serbia).

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which starts early in life and depends on many factors, an important one being dyslipoproteinemia. According to several studies, atherosclerotic plaques or their precursors could be seen in children younger than 10 years. During later life, interaction with a sedentary way of life, as well as unhealthy nutrition, smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and family history of cardiovascular disease cause the burden of atherosclerotic disease. METHODS: Study included 624 children (316 boys, 308 girls), aged from 7-13 years. We analysed socio-demographic data (BMI, blood pressure, cardiovascular family history, smoking status), as well as lipid status with lipoprotein little a-Lp(a), and apolipoproteins: Apo AI, Apo B-100 for all children. This enabled us to calculate new atherogenic indices Tg/HDL-c, lipid tetrad index (LTI) and lipid pentad index (LPI). Cardiovascular risk for later life was estimated by using modified Risk Score for Young Individuals (RS), which divided the subjects according to the score level: low, medium and higher risk. RESULTS: The older children (13 y) had better lipid status than the younger children, i.e. significantly lower total cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and non-HDL-C concentration and significantly higher HDL-C concentration than the younger children and this was in accordance with the RS level. Children with a positive family history of CV disease had significantly higher Lp(a) concentration and blood pressure. LPI was significantly higher in children with a higher RS. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our work could be used for cardiovascular risk assessment in apparently healthy children to provide preventive measures which could control the changeable risk factors.

Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid dietary recommendations are moderately efficient in optimizing their status in healthy middle-aged subjects with low fish consumption: a cross-over study.

Several dietary recommendations have been made for marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake; however, the effectiveness of these fatty acids has not been thoroughly examined. The aim of this study was to investigate whether public-aimed dietary recommendations for long-chain n-3 PUFA from oily fish or fish oil supplements are efficient in optimizing their status in red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets of healthy middle-aged subjects with low customary fish consumption. In a randomized, cross-over trial conducted over an 8-week period and separated by a 6-month washout period, 33 participants received an oily fish (salmon), providing 274 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + 671 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per day, or a commercial fish oil supplement, providing 396 mg EPA + 250 mg DHA per day. Blood samples were collected before and after each intervention period, and RBCs and platelets were used for analysis of fatty acids. After 8 weeks, there were significant increases in EPA and DHA content in RBCs and platelets with both salmon and fish oil capsules. The increase in EPA in both RBCs and platelets was higher with capsules, whereas the increase in DHA in both RBCs and platelets was higher with salmon. In spite of the quantitative and qualitative differences between n-3 fatty acid profiles in salmon and the fish oil supplement, the overall incorporation of these fatty acids into RBCs and platelets did not differ in our short-term study (P > .05). The sum of EPA + DHA significantly increased in both compartments following dietary recommendations for oily fish and fish oil supplements intake in middle-aged healthy subjects with low baseline long-chain n-3 PUFA status, although targeted values with optimal cardioprotective effect of more than 8% were not achieved.