Effect of clofibrate on postheparin plasma triglyceride lipase activities in patients with hypertriglyceridemia

The lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic triglyceride lipase (HL) activities of postheparin plasma were determined by a specific immunochemical method in 17 patients with primary hyperlipoproteinemia before and during treatment with clofibrate. The drug caused a significant reduction of serum cholesterol (11%) and triglyceride (45%) levels. Postheparin plasma LPL activity rose in all subjects, the average change being 46% (p less than 0.001). The increase of LPL was positively correlated to the pretreatment LPL activity. There was no correlation between the serum triglyceride concentration and postheparin LPL activity either before or during clofibrate administration. On the other hand, in the clofibrate responders there was a weak correlation between the relative changes of triglyceride concentration and LPL activity (r = 0.43, p less than 0.05). During clofibrate treatment the LPL activity of the hypertriglyceridemic patients was significantly higher than the corresponding value of untreated healthy normoglyceridemic subjects of similar age. The postheparin plasma HL activity was not influenced by clofibrate.