Post-traumatic anterior pituitary insufficiency developed in a patient with partial lipodystrophy.
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A case of partial lipodystrophy developing anterior pituitary insufficiency, chronic glomerulonephritis and pulmonary fibrosis was reported. The patient died of respiratory failure secondary to pituitary crisis during the hospital course. From the clinical course in recent several years and the postmortem examination the head injury following car accident in the past history was considered to be the most plausible cause of hypopituitarism. The etiology of pulmonary fibrosis remained unresolved. (+info)
Measurement of intracellular triglyceride stores by H spectroscopy: validation in vivo.
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We validate the use of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to quantitatively differentiate between adipocyte and intracellular triglyceride (TG) stores by monitoring the TG methylene proton signals at 1.6 and 1.4 ppm, respectively. In two animal models of intracellular TG accumulation, intrahepatic and intramyocellular TG accumulation was confirmed histologically. Consistent with the histological changes, the methylene signal intensity at 1.4 ppm increased in both liver and muscle, whereas the signal at 1.6 ppm was unchanged. In response to induced fat accumulation, the TG concentration in liver derived from 1H MRS increased from 0 to 44.9 +/- 13.2 micromol/g, and this was matched by increases measured biochemically (2.1 +/- 1.1 to 46.1 +/- 10.9 micromol/g). Supportive evidence that the methylene signal at 1.6 ppm in muscle is derived from investing interfascial adipose tissue was the finding that, in four subjects with generalized lipodystrophy, a disease characterized by absence of interfacial fat, no signal was detected at 1.6 ppm; however, a strong signal was seen at 1.4 ppm. An identical methylene chemical shift at 1.4 ppm was obtained in human subjects with fatty liver where the fat is located exclusively within hepatocytes. In experimental animals, there was a close correlation between hepatic TG content measured in vivo by 1H MRS and chemically by liver biopsy [R = 0.934; P <.0001; slope 0.98, confidence interval (CI) 0.70-1.17; y-intercept 0.26, CI -0.28 to 0. 70]. When applied to human calf muscle, the coefficient of variation of the technique in measuring intramyocellular TG content was 11.8% in nonobese subjects and 7.9% in obese subjects and of extramyocellular (adipocyte) fat was 22.6 and 52.5%, respectively. This study demonstrates for the first time that noninvasive in vivo 1H MRS measurement of intracellular TG, including that within myocytes, is feasible at 1.5-T field strengths and is comparable in accuracy to biochemical measurement. In addition, in mixed tissue such as muscle, the method is clearly advantageous in differentiating between TG from contaminating adipose tissue compared with intramyocellular lipids. (+info)
Identification of nephritic factor as an immunoglobulin.
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C3 nephritic factor (C3NeF) activity in sera from three patients with mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, one of whom had partial lipodystrophy, was found on chromatography to be associated with fractions containing IgG and no other detectable proteins. Immunoadsorption of IgG from these fractions with a highly purified anti-IgG removed the C3NeF, and the IgG, eluted after combination with the anti-IgG, retained C3NeF activity. In each case the isolated IgG with C3NeF activity was found to contain more than one subclass of IgG and both kappa and lambda chains, indicating that the immunoglobulin comprising C3NeF in these patients is heterogeneous and not monoclonal. The identification of C3NeF as an immunoglobulin suggests that it may be an autoantibody against antigenic determinants of complement components present in the C3 convertase of the alternative pathway. (+info)
Diabetes, insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia in lipodystrophic HIV-infected patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
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This study assessed glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and lipid parameters in HIV-infected patients presenting with lipodystrophy during HAART including protease inhibitors. Fourteen consecutive patients from Rothschild Hospital treated with HAART and presenting with marked facial lipoatrophy were evaluated. A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with measurement of plasma glucose, insulin, proinsulin and free fatty acids at T0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min was performed. Lipid parameters (triglycerides, cholesterol, apolipoproteins A1 and B) were studied as well as nutritional and inflammatory markers (albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, haptoglobin, orosomucoid, C-reactive protein), endocrine and cytokine parameters (thyrotropin, cortisol, leptin, interleukin-6), HIV viral load and CD4-lymphocyte count. These patients were compared with 20 non-lipodystrophic protease inhibitor-treated patients. The measurements performed during OGTT showed that among the 14 lipodystrophic patients, 11 (79%) presented with diabetes (5 patients) or normal glucose tolerance but with insulin resistance (6 patients). This frequency was strikingly different in the group of nonlipodystrophic patients, which included only 4 (20%) presenting with diabetes (1 patient), or impaired glucose tolerance (2 patients), or normal glucose tolerance but with insulin resistance (1 patient). Hypertriglyceridaemia was present in 11 lipodystrophic (79%) versus 7 nonlipodystrophic patients (35%). Nutritional and endocrine measurements were normal. An abnormal processing of proinsulin to insulin was excluded. Thus, lipodystrophy during HAART was associated with diabetes, insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridaemia. Diabetes, diagnosed by basal and/or 120 min-OGTT glycaemia, seems more frequent than previously described. The therapeutic consequences of these results deserve evaluation in clinical trials. (+info)
Bioelectrical impedance analysis in HIV-infected patients treated with triple antiretroviral treatment.
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BACKGROUND: Triple antiretroviral treatment including protease inhibitors (PIs) delays the clinical progression of HIV infection and may thus reduce the risk of malnutrition. However, fat redistribution (lipodystrophy) was recognized recently as a metabolic side effect of PIs. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the effect of triple antiretroviral treatment on body composition and on the prevalence of malnutrition. DESIGN: Two cross-sectional studies, 1 in 1996 (t96; n = 247) and 1 in 1997 (t97; n = 266), were conducted in HIV-infected outpatients. Among patients who participated in both studies, 111 patients started a new antiretroviral treatment including a PI between t96 and t97 and were studied longitudinally. Total body water (TBW), intracellular water (ICW), extracellular water (ECW), and fat mass were estimated by monofrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). RESULTS: Prevalence of malnutrition was reduced by 30-50% from t96 to t97, depending on the definition used. In the longitudinal study, TBW and the ratio between ICW and ECW increased and fat mass decreased (P < 0.001). BIA indicated a greater increase in ICW in 23 (21%) patients with clinically apparent fat redistribution than in patients without this syndrome, but estimates of fat mass changes were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Triple antiretroviral treatment may protect HIV-infected patients against the development of malnutrition. Whole-body BIA data suggest an increase in appendicular body cell mass associated with improved antiretroviral treatment. However, the method is unreliable in detecting fat redistribution, and current prediction equations will need to be recalibrated for HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment. (+info)
PPAR gamma is required for placental, cardiac, and adipose tissue development.
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The nuclear hormone receptor PPAR gamma promotes adipogenesis and macrophage differentiation and is a primary pharmacological target in the treatment of type II diabetes. Here, we show that PPAR gamma gene knockout results in two independent lethal phases. Initially, PPAR gamma deficiency interferes with terminal differentiation of the trophoblast and placental vascularization, leading to severe myocardial thinning and death by E10.0. Supplementing PPAR gamma null embryos with wild-type placentas via aggregation with tetraploid embryos corrects the cardiac defect, implicating a previously unrecognized dependence of the developing heart on a functional placenta. A tetraploid-rescued mutant surviving to term exhibited another lethal combination of pathologies, including lipodystrophy and multiple hemorrhages. These findings both confirm and expand the current known spectrum of physiological functions regulated by PPAR gamma. (+info)
Nuclear lamin A/C R482Q mutation in canadian kindreds with Dunnigan-type familial partial lipodystrophy.
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Patients with Dunnigan-type familial partial lipodystrophy (FPLD) are born with normal fat distribution, but after puberty experience regional and progressive adipocyte degeneration, often associated with profound insulin resistance and diabetes. Recently, the FPLD gene was mapped to chromosome 1q21-22, which harbours the LMNA gene encoding nuclear lamins A and C. Mutations in LMNA were shown to underlie autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD-AD), which is characterized by regional and progressive skeletal muscle wasting and cardiac effects. We hypothesized that the analogy between the regional muscle wasting in EDMD-AD and the regional adipocyte degeneration in FPLD, in addition to its chromosomal localization, made LMNA a good candidate gene for FPLD. DNA sequencing of LMNA in five Canadian FPLD probands indicated that each had a novel missense mutation, R482Q, which co-segregated with the FPLD phenotype and was absent from 2000 normal alleles ( P = 1.1 x 10(-13)). This is the first report of a mutation underlying a degenerative disorder of adipose tissue and suggests that LMNA mutations could underlie other diseases characterized by tissue type- and anatomical site-specific cellular degeneration. (+info)
Mutational and haplotype analyses of families with familial partial lipodystrophy (Dunnigan variety) reveal recurrent missense mutations in the globular C-terminal domain of lamin A/C.
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Familial partial lipodystrophy (FPLD), Dunnigan variety, is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by marked loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue from the extremities and trunk but by excess fat deposition in the head and neck. The disease is frequently associated with profound insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. We have localized a gene for FPLD to chromosome 1q21-q23, and it has recently been proposed that nuclear lamin A/C is altered in FPLD, on the basis of a novel missense mutation (R482Q) in five Canadian probands. This gene had previously been shown to be altered in autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD-AD) and in dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease. We examined 15 families with FPLD for mutations in lamin A/C. Five families harbored the R482Q alteration that segregated with the disease phenotype. Seven families harbored an R482W alteration, and one family harbored a G465D alteration. All these mutations lie within exon 8 of the lamin A/C gene-an exon that has also been shown to harbor different missense mutations that are responsible for EDMD-AD. Mutations could not be detected in lamin A/C in one FPLD family in which there was linkage to chromosome 1q21-q23. One family with atypical FPLD harbored an R582H alteration in exon 11 of lamin A. This exon does not comprise part of the lamin C coding region. All mutations in FPLD affect the globular C-terminal domain of the lamin A/C protein. In contrast, mutations responsible for dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease are observed in the rod domain of the protein. The FPLD mutations R482Q and R482W occurred on different haplotypes, indicating that they are likely to have arisen more than once. (+info)