Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 16, Issue 4 341-345, Copyright © 1997 by American College of Nutrition

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Comparison of the enzyme activities between the thickest and the thinnest parts of the abdominal pannus

L. Cazes, M. Deitel, R. H. Levine and B. S. Hamilton
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Surgery (General and Plastics). University of Toronto, School of Graduate Studies, Toronto, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: According to some reports, there are variations in metabolism in adipocytes from different areas of the body. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in some of the lipid assimilating enzyme activities between the thickest (overhang) and the thinnest (upper margin) parts of the abdominal pannus. METHODS: The abdominal panniculectomy activities of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (31 subjects, spectrophotometric method), fatty acid synthetase (14 subjects, spectrophotometric method) and lipoprotein lipase (18 subjects, radioactive method) were determined in the thickest and the thinnest parts of the pannus of lipectomy patients. RESULTS: The enzyme activities were as follows: sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase: thickest: 2083 +/- 227.7 nm/mg/min; thinnest: 2084 +/- 208.3 nm/mg/min (p < 0.098, T = 0.02). Fatty acid synthetase: thickest: 22.0 +/- 3.9 microns/mg/min; thinnest 25.9 +/- 6.9 microns/mg/min (p < 0.36, T = 0.94). Lipoprotein lipase: thickest: 0.70 +/- 0.11% of control; thinnest: 0.61 +/- 0.14% of control (p < 0.47, T = 0.75). Thus no differences in specific enzyme activities were found between the two sites studied. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the activity of the enzymes studied at the thickest and the thinnest part of the pannus.