Chemical-physical properties of lipoproteins in anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN), a psychosomatic disorder, has serious negative effects on multiple organs and systems of the human body. Anorexia nervosa usually runs a chronic course and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In order to elucidate the role played by lipids in AN, in the present study we compared the plasma lipid profile and the chemical-physical properties of lipoproteins obtained from subjects affected by AN.

The study was performed on lipoproteins of AN subjects and of age-matched healthy subjects used as controls. We tested the susceptibility to oxidative stress in vitro, the fatty acid content, the fluidity using 2-dimethylamino-(6-lauroyl)-naphthalene (Laurdan) and 1,6-difenil-1,3,5-esatriene (DPH) probes.

Present results indicate that AN patients present a deep alteration of the composition and of chemical-physical properties in circulating lipoproteins, even in the absence of significant modifications to clinical metabolic parameters. A significantly decreased body mass index (BMI) was found in AN patients in comparison with controls. Anorexia nervosa patients showed a significant modification of phospholipids to protein ratio and a significantly increased percentage of unsaturated fatty acids compared with control subjects as well as a decreased fluidity, a significantly increased percentage of liquid-crystalline phase in VLDL, and a significantly reduced susceptibility to oxidative stress, more pronounced in LDL.

These results confirm the hypothesis that anorexia is accompanied by changes of lipid metabolism in the central nervous system (CNS).