Abstract
To assess the effects of nicomol, an ester derivative of nicotinic acid synthesized in Japan, on the lipoprotein abnormalities found in patients with ischemic heart disease, plasma lipoprotein fractions were ultracentrifugally separated and examined before and after three months administration of this drug in a dose of 1.2 grams a day.
The subjects examined were 8 survivors of myocardial infarction and 6 patients with angina pectoris. Each fraction of ultracentrifugally separated VLDL and LDL was mixed with heparin Ca solution and then filtered with a Millipore filter. Fractions retained on the filter were used for the determination of their chemical composition. The HDL2 and HDL3 subfractions were delipidated with tetramethylurea and then electrophoresed on a polyacrylamide gel. The densitometry of these electrophoretograms permited us to determine the proportion of contaminating albumin.
The plasma triglyceride level was significantly decreased, whereas the total cholesterol levels remained unchanged. VLDL-triglyceride concentration was significantly decreased. Percentage content of triglyceride was also significantly decreased but percentage contents of phospholipid and protein were significantly increased. The LDL level was almost unchanged. Either HDL-cholesterol level or HDL: LDL-cholesterol ratio was increased. Their increases were small but reached a statistically significant level. The HDL subfractions, HDL2 and HDL3-cholesterol levels were also increased. The increase of the former level was greater than that of the latter level, resulting in the slight increase of HDL2 to HDL3-cholesterol ratio. In the HDL2 subfraction, percentage contents of phospholipid and triglyceride were decreased whereas the percentage content of protein was increased. The percentage content of cholesterol remained unchanged. The chemical composition of HDL3 subfraction changed in almost the same way as that of HDL2 subfraction. No significant side effects were observed.
It was clearly shown that nicomol administration considerably affected the lipoprotein profile in patients with ischemic heart disease. The level of VLDL was decreased in association with the significant elevation of the HDL, particularly HDL2-cholesterol level. Therefore, the changes in the lipoprotein profile found in the present study seem beneficial for protecting against the atherosclerotic vascular disease.
