Hemostatic factors in hypertriglyceridemic men: Effects of a fatty meal before and after triglyceride-lowering treatment with etofibrate

The aims of this double-blind study were to examine whether in hypertriglyc eridemic men the ingestion of a standardized fatty meal alters hemostasis n egatively and whether triglyceride-lowering treatment with etofibrate for 6 weeks alters fasting and postprandial hemostasis positively, thus reversin g the potential negative effects of a fatty meal on postprandial hemostasis . To answer these questions, we measured markers of hemostasis immediately before a standardized fatty meal, and 4, 6, 8, and 10 hours after the meal in 21 hypertriglyceridemic men both before and after treatment with etofibr ate. We found that the concentration of plasmin alpha(2)antiplasmin complex markedly increased for at least 10 hours after the fatty meal, but that th e activation of factor XII and the concentration of prothrombin activation fragment(1+2) decreased after the fatty meal. These results on factor XII c ontradict reported in vitro data. Triglyceride-lowering treatment with etof ibrate in 10 of these men for 6 weeks increased fasting and postprandial pr otein C and plasminogen and also slightly decreased the activation of fXII; however, it did not reverse the postprandial increase of PAP or change the decrease of prothrombin activation fragment(1+2). Our findings indicate th at postprandial lipoproteins alter markers of hemostasis positively in an a ntithrombotic and profibrinolytic direction. In addition, triglyceride-lowe ring treatment with etofibrate only slightly improves markers of fasting an d postprandial hemostasis in an antithrombotic and profibrinolytic directio n. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.