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Plasma kinetics of a cholesterol‐rich emulsion in young, middle‐aged, and elderly subjects
Author(s) -
Pinto Lígia B.,
Wajngarten Mauricio,
Silva Edson L.,
Vinagre Carmen C.,
Maranhão Raul C.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/s11745-001-0845-y
Subject(s) - lipidology , clinical chemistry , medicine , emulsion , cholesterol , endocrinology , coronary artery disease , chemistry , kinetics , lipoprotein , clinical nutrition , low density lipoprotein , blood plasma , incidence (geometry) , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , optics
Low density lipoprotein (LDL) plasma concentration is increased in the elderly. In this group, the incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) is greater and LDL remains an important risk factor for CAD development. In this study, the plasma kinetics of a cholesterol‐rich emulsion that binds to LDL receptors was studied in 10‐subject groups of the elderly (70±4 yr), middle‐aged (42±5 yr) and young (23±2 yr). All were normolipidemic, nonobese, nondiabetic subjects who did not have CAD. The emulsion was labeled with 14 C‐cholesteryl oleate and injected intravenously into the subjects. Blood samples were drawn at regular intervals over 24 h to determine the plasma decay curve of the emulsion radioactive label and to estimate its plasma fractional clearance rate (FCR, in h −1 ). FCR of the emulsion label was smaller in elderly compared to young subjects (0.032±0.035 and 0.071±0.049 h −1 , respectively; mean±SD, P <0.05). FCR of the middle‐aged subjects (0.050±0.071 h −1 ) was intermediate between the values of the elderly and young subjects, although not statistically different from them. A negative correlation was found between the emulsion FCR and subjects’ age ( r =−0.47, P =0.008). We conclude that aging is accompanied by progressively diminished clearance of the emulsion cholesterol esters and, by analogy, of the native LDL.