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D Sommariva

Publications and source records attributed to D Sommariva.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Effects of slow release bezafibrate on the lipid pattern and on blood glucose of type 2 diabetic patients with hyperlipidaemia.

Ninety-eight type 2 diabetic patients with hyperlipidaemia in stable metabolic control with diet alone (41) or diet plus hypoglycaemic agents (57) were divided into two groups: group 1 was put on treatment with slow release bezafibrate 400 mg a day, while group 2 was considered as control. In group 1, after 1 month of bezafibrate, serum triglycerides fell by 47% and cholesterol by 13%. HDL cholesterol showed a non-significant trend toward an increase. Fasting blood glucose significantly decreased by 6%, fructosamine and glycated haemoglobin by 5%. During OGTT, the area under the curve of both serum C-peptide and blood glucose showed a trend toward a decrease after bezafibrate. However, the difference did not reach statistical significance. Thirty-six patients continued the treatment with the drug for 4 months and 23 for 8 months, without further changes of the lipid pattern and glycaemic control. In the control group no significant variation of the lipid levels occurred and diabetic control slightly worsened during the study. Bezafibrate has been proved to be effective in the treatment of hyperlipidaemia in type 2 diabetic patients. The drug seems moreover to improve glycaemic control. The mechanism by which bezafibrate produces this latter effect remains to be elucidated, though an increase of peripheral insulin sensitivity might be suggested.

Aged

Effects of bezafibrate on biosynthesis of cholesterol and on degradation of native and acetylated low-density lipoproteins in incubated human monocytes.

The effects of bezafibrate on 14C-acetate incorporation into non-saponifiable lipids and on degradation of native and acetylated [125I] low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in cultured human monocytes has been evaluated. The presence of bezafibrate in the incubation medium resulted in a decrease of labelled acetate incorporation into non-saponifiable lipids. In parallel with the decrease in sterol synthesis, bezafibrate produced an increase in total and specific degradation of native low-density lipoproteins, whereas the degradation of acetylated low-density lipoproteins was not affected by the drug. These data, though obtained with concentrations of bezafibrate in the incubation medium greater than those encountered in ordinary therapeutic conditions, support the hypothesis that bezafibrate inhibits cholesterol biosynthesis and increases removal of low-density lipoproteins by activating the specific receptor pathway.

Bezafibrate

An evaluation of quantitative agarose-gel electrophoresis of serum lipoproteins.

The method of Hatch et al. (Hatch, F.T., Lindgren, F.T., Adamson, G.L., Jensen, L.C. and Wong, A.W. (1973) J. Lab. Clin. Med. 81, 946-960) of quantitative determination of serum lipoproteins has been compared with preparative ultracentrifugation and chemical analysis of the lipoprotein fractions and a good concordance was demonstrated. The replacement of the coefficients proposed by Hatch et al. by the ones derived from the present study does not bring about relevant changes of the results when the harmonic mean of two calibration factors, derived from serum cholesterol and triglycerides, is used, thus indicating that this method of calculation minimizes the effect of variation of the chemical composition of lipoproteins. The method is sufficiently reliable and reproducible for practical pruposes and is recommended as the standard method for the clinical laboratory.

Cholesterol

Low-fat diet versus low-carbohydrate diet in the treatment of type IV hyperlipoproteinaemia.

The response to dietary management was studied in 24 hypertriglyceridaemic out-patients. Fourteen patients were kept on a diet low in fat and cholesterol and high in polyunsaturated fatty acids; 10 of these patients subsequently followed a period of low-carbohydrate diet. At the end of the first period a significant decrease of serum triglyceride, cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins was observed; after the second feeding period no substantial change of serum lipoprotein pattern occurred. Ten patients were given a low-carbohydrate diet that produced a significant fall of the levels of triglycerides and pre-beta-lipoproteins. Six of these subjects continued the experiment with the low-fat diet; during this period a further trend toward reduction of serum triglyceride, cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins was observed which, however, was not statistically significant. We conclude that serum triglyceride levels can be lowered both by a low-carbohydrate diet and by a low-fat diet, but the latter has the advantage of also producing a significant fall of serum cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins.

Adult