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

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.

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.

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.

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.