Lipoprotein Metabolism in Hypertensive African-Americans

BACKGROUND:

The study was part of the initiative "Collaborative Projects (R01s) on Minority Health". The concept for the initiative was developed by the NHLBI staff after the 1993 Report of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, encouraged the NHLBI to establish minority centers to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The initiative was approved at the September 1992 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council and released in October 1992.

Julian Marsh was one of three investigators in a collaborative program with Bonita Falkner as Program Coordinator.

DESIGN NARRATIVE:

In a sub-set of subjects with either high or low plasma insulin levels after a glucose challenge (insulin sensitive or insulin resistant), the investigators determined the fractional and absolute synthesis and catabolic rates of apolipoproteins B and A-I, the dominant lipoproteins of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL). They used stable isotopes and multicompartmental kinetic analysis following an oral bolus dose of deuteroleucine. They hypothesized that in hypertensive African Americans with hyperinsulinemia, more of the smaller Very Low Density (VLDL) particles are secreted and converted to LDL.