Composition of very-low-density lipoproteins in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

We studied the characteristics of very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs) composition in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. VLDLs were isolated from 28 diabetics and 33 nondiabetics with a wide range of plasma lipid concentrations, so we could compare VLDL composition between the two groups at similar lipid concentrations. The mean cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in plasma of diabetic subjects were 2170 (SD 570) and 2510 (SD 2230) mg/L, respectively, and 2230 (SD 560) and 2210 (SD 1830) mg/L in nondiabetics. Diabetic subjects showed positive correlations between plasma triglyceride concentrations and either preprandial blood glucose or glycated hemoglobin values (P less than 0.02 and less than 0.01, respectively). Concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and apolipoproteins (apo) B, CII, CIII, and E in VLDL were not significantly different between diabetics and nondiabetics. At comparable triglyceride concentrations, the chemical compositions of the VLDL in the two groups were still very similar. Dividing the concentration of each component by the VLDL-apo B concentrations yielded similar contents of each component per unit of VLDL for the two groups. We conclude that the composition of VLDLs in diabetics is much the same as that in nondiabetics at comparable concentrations of triglycerides in plasma.