Abstract
A dose of 300 mg a day of ursodeoxycholic aicd (UDCA) was given to 54 subjects to evaluate atherosclerosis. The atherogenic index, that is AI: [Total cholesterol (TC)-HDL cholesterol (HDL-C)]/HDL-C was observed before and two weeks after UDCA administration.
1) The atherogenic score by Goto was used to evaluate clinical atherogenicity. The score showed a good correlation with clinical symptoms.
2) In the young group, TC decreased and HDL-C increased significantly after UDCA administration. ΔAI:{[AI(after)-AI(before)]/AI(before)}×100% was -8.16±14.4%. On the other hand, AI inold group was not significantly changed.
3) There was a significant positive correlation between ΔAI and the atherogenic score. In the old group, the correlation was especially significant, i.e. Y=2.1301X - 24.4656, r=0.6158, p<0.005.
4) The subjects were devided into three groups: an increased AI group, a non-changing group, and a decreased AI group. There were significant differences among them.
5) In the subjects whose ΔAI decreased, the level of serum Chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) increased, and there was a statistically significant negative correlation between ΔAI and the change of CDCA level.
From the above results, it was concluded that the progression of atherosclerosis in an individual can be predicted by measuring TC and HDL-C before and after UDCA administration, that is to say, by usingthe bile acid tolerance test.
