Fasting serum apolipoprotein B-48 can be a marker of postprandial hyperlipidemia

Aim: postprandial hyperlipidemia (ph) is thought to be caused by the impaired postprandial metabolism of triglycerides (tg)-rich lipoproteins in both endogenous and exogenous pathways; however,there is no consensus. it is difficult to estimate the presence of ph without performing a time-consuming oral fat loading (ofl) test,so postprandial lipoprotein metabolism was analyzed by measuring the postprandial levels of apolipoprotein (apo) b-48 and apo b-100,and the correlation between postprandial tg increase and fasting apob-48 levels was assessed to establish a good marker of ph without performing an ofl test. methods: ten male normolipidemic subjects were loaded with a high-fat (hf,1045 kcal) or standard (st,566 kcal) meal,and the lipids,apolipoproteins and lipoprotein profiles were analyzed after each meal. results: tg,apo b-48,remnant-like particles (rlp)-cholesterol and rlp-tg levels were increased and their levels were significantly higher after intake of the hf meal than the st meal; however,there was no postprandial increase in apo b-100 and ldl-c levels. postprandial increases in tg levels of cm,vldl,ldl and hdl were significantly higher after intake of the hf meal than the st meal. fasting apo b-48 levels were strongly correlated with the incremental area under the curve of tg after intake of the hf meal,but not the st meal. conclusion: postprandial tg increase was mainly due to increased cm and cm-r,but not vldl. measurement of fasting serum apo b-48 may be a simple and useful method for assessment of the existence of ph.