The relationship between the apolipoprotein E (apoE) and beta-fibrinogen G/A-455 polymorphisms and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) was examined in the present study. We compared 227 patients with the subtypes of CVD (large-vessel disease, lacunar stroke, cardiac embolism, or undetermined pathomechanisms) with 225 control subjects. The occurrence of apoE isoforms (E2, E3, and E4) and the beta-fibrinogen G/A-455 genotype was determined in these individuals. No differences in apoE polymorphisms or allele frequencies between the CVD patients and control subjects were found. However, analysis of apoE genotypes as a function of stroke subtype revealed that the apoE4 allele was significantly more common in those patients with macroangiopathy-associated CVD. The only CVD risk factor that distinguished patients with the E4 allele from those with other apoE genotypes was elevated cholesterol. No association between the beta-fibrinogen G/A-455 polymorphism and CVD was found. However, homozygosity for the A allele was more common in patients with CVD resulting from large-vessel disease. These data demonstrate that the apoE4 allele and the AA genotype of the beta-fibrinogen G/A-455 polymorphism occur significantly more frequently in patients with CVD resulting from stenosis of large, brain-supplying vessels. Such genetic analyses may further our understanding of the etiology of cerebrovascular disease.

Diet-induced obesity in rats can be produced by high-fat feeding. Comparing high-fat with low-fat feeding, the present study was designed to characterize the phases of development of obesity. In the dynamic phase, male rats were investigated at the age of 9-10 weeks after feeding the diets for 4-5 weeks. In the static phase, the animals at the age of 24-26 weeks were tested after 20-22 weeks of the nutritional regime. In this phase, the effects of switching high-fat to low-fat diet for 4 weeks were also examined. Fractionating lipid extracts by thin layer chromatography the concentrations of several lipids in epididymal adipose tissue, in serum, and in liver were determined. In liver, the enhancement of cholesteryl-ester (CE) concentration after high-fat feeding besides the accumulation of triglycerides (TG) is remarkable. Cell fractionation studies of the livers by differential ultracentrifugation showed the major part of the accumulated CE in the supernatant. In vitro incorporation of (1-14C)acetate and (2-14C)mevalonate into liver slices indicated that cholesterol synthesis in the liver of the obese rats was not increased. Although the offered fat diet with 0.1% of cholesterol can not be considered as high in cholesterol, the 2.5-fold higher amount of the high-fat diet in comparison with the low-fat diet (0.04% cholesterol) could be responsible for the enlargement of CE in the liver of the fat fed rats. This possibility was proved by measurement of the cholesterol absorption and transport to the liver after oral administration of (4-14C)cholesterol. Estimation of TG secretion rates of the liver using Triton WR 1339 pointed out higher rates in the obese rats in the dynamic phase. In the static phase, the rates were not different between both feeding groups, while fat restriction in the food produced a striking increase of TG secretion. It is assumed that only in the dynamic phase metabolism is able to compensate the liver TG accumulation by an enhanced transport to the adipose tissue. In the static phase this ability is diminished but not lost.