Evidence for a defect in fatty acid uptake by adipose tissue of patients with hypertriglyceridaemia.

Abstract

Professor Robinson has described the importance of lipoprotein lipase (clearing factor lipase) for the initial phase in the clearance of plasma triglycerides, whether exogenous and present as chylomicrons or endogenous and present as very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). It acts by splitting off the fatty acids which are then taken up by the cells. Our interest in hypertriglyceridaemia was extended to the later phases of the clearance process as a result of an unusual case described below. Case A.A. was a man aged 50 with massive hypertriglyceridaemia, with plasma levels sometimes exceeding 150 mmol/12 (approximately 12 500 mg/100 ml) compared with the normal of about 1-2 mmol/l. Initially, fasting plasma looked like cream and most of the triglyceride was present in the chylomicrons, ie, in particles with Sf>400, but there was also elevation of the VLDL with Sf< 400 (table I). The hyperlipidaemia is thus best classified