Cholesterol Metabolism and Lipid Transfer in Diabetes

Hypercholesterolemia is not typical of type 2 diabetes mellitus dyslipidemia, but alterations in LDL may occur related to atherogenesis.Cholesterol exist in two main forms in organism: free cholesterol and the esterified cholesterol. An artificial model to study this two forms of cholesterol is the use of LDL-like nanoemulsion doubly labeled with 14C-cholesteryl esters and 3H- cholesterol. This nanoemulsion is made without protein and when in the intravascular compartment it is able to acquires apolipoproteins from others lipoproteins, such apos A's, C's and E. This model allowed us to use the nanoemulsion particle as a probe to study the lipoproteins receptor binding and the cholesterol esterification process.

Inclusion criteria

• without a previous cardiovascular disease
• if arterial hypertension, or in use of antihypertensive drugs- it must be well controled with a systolic Blood pressure level <130mmHg and diastolic <85mmHg.
• total cholesterol < 6 mmol/L
• LDL- cholesterol <4 mmol/L

Exclusion criteria

• use of drugs- statins, fibrates, glucocorticoids, thiazolidinediones
• nephropathy- the presence of microalbuminuria(ratio of microalbuminuria/creatinin >30 ug/mg) or serum creatinin above 98umol/L in woman and above 115 umol/L in man
• retinopathy
• neuropathy presence of chronic disease: heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, inflammatory disease and cancer