Sodium-Lithium Countertransport Activity in Healthy, Dyslipidemic, and Hypertensive Individuals

Abstract

The aim of our study was to investigate the role of dyslipidemia on red blood cell sodium-lithium countertransport activity in healthy and hypertensive individuals. A total of 128 Caucasian individuals, aged 20 to 60 years old, were divided into 4 groups: dyslipidemic/ hypertensive, dyslipidemic/normotensive, normolipidemic/hypertensive, and normolipidemic/ normotensive (controls). Sodiumlithium countertransport activity was determined based on the Canessa et al method. Sodium-lithium countertransport activity was significantly higher in all patient groups compared with controls ( P < .001) and similar in the 3 patient groups. Sodium-lithium countertransport activity was significantly and positively associated with triglyceride levels ( P < .001), body mass index ( P < .001), total cholesterol levels ( P = .001), and systolic ( P = .001) and diastolic blood pressure ( P = .001). In multivariate regression analysis, triglycerides made the largest contribution to sodiumlithium countertransport variation among the variables tested ( R 2 = 0.273). Our results suggest that dyslipidemia affects sodium-lithium countertransport activity independently of essential hypertension and even to a greater extent than hypertension.