Abstract
Serum HDL2- and HDL3-cholesterol (HDL2-C and HDL3-C) levels were measured in 96 healthy subjects (44 men, age 43±13 yrs; 52 women, age 40±11 yrs) in order to clarify the role and metabolism of HDL subfractions. The healthy subjects, who had no abnormalities in triglyceride, total cholesterol, obesity index, blood pressure, ECG findings, blood sugar, liver functions, and renal functions, were obtained from the health testing center.
1) Mean serum HDL2-C level was significantly higher in healthy women than in healthy men (p<0.001). However there was no difference between the mean serum HDL3-C level of healthy men and that of women (Fig. 1).
2) There was a negative correlation between smoking and HDL2-C in healthy men (r=-0.34, p<0.05). And a possitive correlation between drinking and HDL2-C was observed (r=0.36, p<0.02). However there was no correlation between smoking or drinking and HDL3-C (Fig. 2).
3) HDL2-C level has a tendency to decrease paralled to HDL-C level, on the other hand there are no apparent changes in HDL3-C level except under the range of less concentration of 40mg/dl of HDL-C level in healthy women. However in the range of less than 40mg/dl of HDL-C, HDL3-C also its decrease with the increasing value of HDL-C level (Fig. 3).
4) Fig. 4 shows the relationship between HDL2-C and HDL3-C in healthy momen. HDL3-C level shows its increase with the increasing value of HDL2-C under the range of less than 20mg/dl of HDL2-C. But in the range of more than 20mg/dl of HDL2-C, HDL3-C level shows no apparent changes (Fig. 4).
Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 indicate that in healthy subjects HDL-C level depends mainly on HDL2-C level. But Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 indicate that under the range of less than 40mg/dl of HDL-C or 20mg/dl of HDL2-C, HDL3-C level shows its decrease with the decreasing value of HDL-C or HDL2-C. In a previous report we showed that in patients with atherosclerotic disease both of HDL2-C and HDL3-C were lower than in healthy subjects. Considering these results not only HDL2-C level but also HDL3-C level are important in atherosclerosis.
