title: Reproducibility of stable isotope-labeled tracer measures of VLDL-triglyceride and VLDL-apolipoprotein B-100 kinetics.
abstract: To gain insight into the mechanisms regulating plasma lipid homeostasis, FFA, VLDL-triglyceride (TG), and VLDL-apolipoprotein B-100 (apoB-100) kinetics are commonly assessed using stable isotope-labeled tracer methods. The reproducibility of these measurements, which is critical for the experimental design, is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the repeatability of plasma FFA, VLDL-TG, and VLDL-apoB-100 kinetics in eight healthy men using stable isotope-labeled tracer techniques. There were no systematic differences in plasma FFA, VLDL-TG, and VLDL-apoB-100 concentrations and kinetics between the two studies. Intraindividual day-to-day variability for various outcome variables ranged from 15% to 25%, and almost all of this was of biological origin. The most robust outcome variables were FFA rate of appearance and hepatic VLDL-TG and VLDL-apoB-100 secretion rates; the least robust were VLDL-TG and VLDL-apoB-100 plasma clearance rates and mean residence times. Overall, physiologically meaningful differences in mean values (i.e., 25-30% in magnitude) can be obtained with a sample size of 6-10 subjects for paired studies and 12-20 subjects per group for cross-sectional studies, assuming a type I error rate of 0.05 and a type II error rate of 0.20 (i.e., 80% power). These findings will be useful for future studies investigating FFA, VLDL-TG, and VLDL-apoB-100 kinetics with the methods described.
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Faidon
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Magkos
authors.forename: Bruce W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mittendorfer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053299:Apolipoprotein B-100 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007554:Isotopes; D007700:Kinetics; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D053299:Apolipoprotein B-100; D007554:Isotopes; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL; D014280:Triglycerides