Pancreas fat content, insulin homeostasis and circulating endothelial microparticles in male essential hypertensive patients

Abstract

Thepancreasfatcontenthasbeenpoorlyinvestigatedinessentialhypertension.Theauthorsaimtorelatepancreasandliverfatcontentwithparametersmeasuringinsulinresistance, beta-cell function and also with markers of endothelial dysfunction andplateletorendothelialcelldestruction.Theauthorsstudiedagroupof40malehyper-tensivepatientswithwell-controlledbloodpressure,maintainingastableweight,andhavingnotchangedtheirmedicationduringthelastyear.Pancreasfatcontentwascor-relatedwithHOMA-IR(r=.616,p<.001),HOMA-S(r=−.439,p<.005),betacellfunctionparameter(r=.457,p<.005),andQUICKI(r=.412,p<.01),whereasliverfatwasnotpatientsinthehighestquartileofpancreasfatcontenthadmorecirculatingendothelialmicroparticlesthanpatientsintheotherquartiles(median129[94.3–200]vs.60.9[49.4–88.8],p=.002).However,patientsinthehighestquartileofthepancreasfat content distribution did not differ from the lowest in hyperemic response afterischemianorcirculatingplateletmicroparticlescount.Liverfatcontentwasnotrelatedto any of the parameters studied. In a multivariate stepwise binary logistic regres-sionanalysis(WaldMethod)circulatingendothelialmicroparticlesremainsignificantlyassociatedwithpancreasfatcontentafteradjustingforconfoundingfactors,suchastobacco,diabetesmellitus,hypercholesterolemia,ormetabolicsyndrome.Ourresultsreflectthatinessentialhypertension,pancreasfatcontentissuperiortoliverfattostudybeta-cellfunctionalityandinsulinresistance.Moreover,theauthorsdescribedforthefirsttimethatpancreasfatcontentisrelatedtoendothelialcelldestruction.Furtherstudiesareneededtoconfirmthispoint.