Hypertriglyceridemia with increased plasma insulin concentrations in cats

Metabolite, insulin and adiponectin concentrations and LDH, AST and ALT activities were measured in plasma of 142 client-owned cats (1-13 years old, 16 breeds) to set up a new criterion of hypertriglyceridemia (hyper-TG) with increased plasma insulin concentrations for early diagnosis of lipid metabolism abnormality including obesity. 25 cats with over 165 mg/di of plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations were decided as hyper-TG with increased plasma insulin concentrations, and prevalence of hyper-TG was 16.7% in young (1-6 years old) and 18.3% in old (>7 years old) cats examined. In the hyper-TG cats, their plasma TG concentrations increased to 6.6-7.4-fold of the values of control cats with 35-50 mg/di of plasma TG and their plasma cholesterol, FFA and insulin concentrations and LDH and ALT activities increased significantly, whereas their plasma adiponectin concentrations decreased significantly compared to those in the control cats. Hyper-TG cats with significantly increased body weights and plasma insulin and decreased plasma adiponectin seemed to be in early stage of obesity accompanying increased plasma insulin concentrations. Increased TG, insulin, LDH and ALT and decreased adiponectin values in plasma seemed to be key factors for diagnosis of lipid metabolism abnormality at early stage in cats. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.