Study On The Serum Phospholipid Fatty Acid Profile In Patients With Metabolic Syndrome

BackgroundMetabolic syndrome (MS ) is the co-occurrence of multiple metabolic abnormalities in individuals and this clustering phenomenon drastically increase risk for cardiovascular disease. These metabolic abnormalities include visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose regulation, lipid abnormalities (characterized mainly by high triacylglycerol levels and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) as well as hypertension. Insulin resistance is the pathogenetic link underlying the different metabolic abnormalities clustering in the metabolic syndrome. Although mainly relative with gene, it can be induced by different environmental factors, including dietary habits. Total fat intake and the quality of dietary fat acids are able to influence insulin resistance and some of the related metabolic abnormalities. Different types of dietary fatty acids have different effects on insulin sensitivity. Epidemiological evidence and intervention studies found that the fatty acid composition of one's usual diet was reflected in the composition of the fatty acid pattern in serum phospholipids. It was found that insulin sensitivity are negatively related with saturated fatty acid ( SFA) and positively related with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in serum phospholipids in healthy man. In overweight subjects,fatty acid composition in plasma phospholipids was associated with MS features independent of body fat. But there are very few studies on serum phospholipid fatty acid profile in individuals with the metabolic syndrome.ObjectTo investigate the serum phospholipid fatty acid profile in patients with metabolic syndrome and in healthy and analyze the Bivariate correlation of clinical characteristics and serum phospholipid fatty acids in metabolic syndrome group, discuss the association between serum phospholipid fatty acids and metabolic syndrome.Methods50 MS and 50 healthy subjects were studied. There is no significant difference in age and gender between MS and normal control group. Serum phospholipid fatty acid was analyzed with capillary gas chromatography. Serum lipids were measured by enzymatic assay. The carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) of were measured by color Doppler ultraonography. Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) was applied to assess the status of insulin resistance. The data are processed by SPSS 11.5 for statistical analysis, with P <0.05 considered statistically different.Results1. Serum phospholipid SFA in MS group were significantly higher than those of normal control group, but polyunsaturated fatty acid in MS group were significantly lower than those of normal control group. There is no difference of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) between MS and normal control group, but C16:l in MS group was significantly higher than those of normal control group, C24:l in MS group was significantly lower than those of normal control group.2. Bivariate correlate showed Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was negatively correlated with C20:l and C20:3n-6, but positively correlated with C23:0;Postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) was positively correlated with C23:0;HbAic was positively correlated with C23:0 and total cholesterol (TC);Fasting insulin (FINS) was negatively correlated with PUFA and PUFA/SFA but positively correlated with body mass index (BMI);HOMA-IR was positively correlated with BMI and TC, but negatively correlated with C20:4n-6, C20:5n-3, PUFA and PUFA/SFA;BMI was positively correlated with C16:l and SFA, negatively correlated with C20:5n-3, PUFA, n-3 PUFA and PUFA/SFA;Waist circumference (WC) was negatively correlated with C24:l;Waist hip ratio (WHR) was negatively correlated with C20:4n-6;Carotid intima - media thickness (IMT) was positively correlated with C23:0;Uric acid (UA) was positively correlated with C18:0;TC was negatively correlated with C18.1, C22:2n-6, MUFA;Triacylglycerol (TG) negatively correlated with C18:l, C20:l, C22:2n-6, MUFA, positively correlated with SFA;High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C)was negatively correlated with C18:0;Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was positively correlated with C23:0, all the P value are< 0.05. In general multivariate regression, age, TC and PUFA were the significantly independent determinant for HOMA-IR (P<0.05).Conclusions1. Serum phospholipid fatty acid profile was significantly different between MS group and normal control group. SFA in MS group were significantly higher than those of normal control group, but PUFA in MS group were significantly lower than those of normal control group.2. Serum phospholipids PUFA were positively correlated with insulin sensitivity in MS. Other features of the metabolic syndrome were associated with different types of fat acids.