Lipoprotein, apolipoprotein, and lipolytic enzyme changes following estrogen administration in postmenopausal women

To test whether estrogen can modulate the cholesterolemic response to an Occidental diet, six healthy postmenopausal women were studied for 84 days while ingesting a solid food diet of constant composition high in cholesterol content (995 mg/d). In the middle of the study, estrogen (17 alpha-ethinyl estradiol, 1 microgram/kg per day) was administered orally. Ingestion of the diet for the initial 28 days did not alter lipoprotein lipid or apolipoprotein (apo) levels. However, with just 4 days of estrogen use there were significant decreases in apoE (-36%), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (-26%), and postheparin plasma hepatic triglyceride lipase activity (HTGL) (-61%), and an increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) triglyceride (72%). These changes persisted throughout the estrogen use. The percent change in HTGL with 4 days of estrogen correlated inversely with the percent change in HDL triglyceride (rs = -0.94). After 28 days of estrogen there were also significant increases in HDL cholesterol (21%), HDL2 cholesterol (42%), apoA-I (37%), and apoA-II (9%), and a decrease in apoB (-11%). The level of apoE at this juncture correlated inversely with the level of HDL cholesterol (rs = -0.90), and the levels of HTGL and apoA-I correlated with HDL2 cholesterol (rs = -0.89 and rs = 0.89, respectively). Thus, HTGL may play a role in both the early estrogen-related changes in HDL triglyceride and apoE and the late estrogen-related changes in HDL cholesterol, apoA-I, and apoA-II.