Identification of Unique Lipoprotein Subclasses for Visceral Obesity by Component Analysis of Cholesterol Profile in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Objective— The contribution of visceral fat accumulation to the development of coronary heart disease was previously reported, but the relation between visceral fat accumulation and serum lipoprotein subclasses was unknown. Methods and Results— We examined the relation of lipoprotein subclasses with visceral fat accumulation in 62 male subjects (aged 22 to 67 years) with visceral fat syndrome or obesity. Cholesterol levels in very low–density, low-density, and high-density lipoprotein subclasses (VLDL, LDL, and HDL) were determined by computer-assisted high-performance liquid chromatography. Subcutaneous fat area and visceral fat area were measured by computed tomographic scanning. There was no significant correlation between the subcutaneous fat area and the cholesterol levels in all lipoprotein subclasses. In contrast, the visceral fat area was correlated positively ( P P P P Conclusion— These findings indicate that this simple high-performance liquid chromatography method may be applied for easy detection and evaluation of abnormal distribution of lipoprotein subclasses.