Effect of inflammation on apolipoprotein A-1(apoA-1) secretion by intestinal cells.

• Main Author: Yu, Kenneth.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Research Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Human anatomy and physiology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/14547
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study has shown that ApoA-l secretion in intestinal cells is constitutive; however, the rate of apoA-l secretion is increased by as high as 5-times the constitutive secretion rate when the cells are exposed to anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and paracetamol. In contrast, pro-inflammatory drugs such as lipopolysaccharides and endotoxin appeared to decrease intestinal secretion of apoA-1. These results indicate that aspirin and paracetamol, two of the most widely used medications for fevers and headaches, may have beneficial effects on the metabolism of high-density-lipoproteins(HDL),the so-called" good cholesterol" by increasing the rate of apoA-1 secretion by the intestine. This may imply that the blood concentration of HDL may increase favorably should the amount of apoA-l increase as apoA-l is a major constituent of HDL. On the other hand, a bacterial infection in the intestine that leads to inflammation caused by bacterial lipopolysaccharides and endotoxin may have an adverse effect on intestinal secretion of apoA-l, thus there may be lowered blood concentration of HDL.