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The aim was to investigate low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) composition and Na+/K+ adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) and Ca2+ ATPase activities and membrane fluidity measured by 1‐(4‐trimethylaminophenyl)‐6‐phenyl‐1,3,5‐hexatriene (TMA‐DPH) in platelets from obese patients and controls in order to identify, if any, platelet membrane's chemical–physical and/or functional modifications associated with compositional modification of circulating lipoproteins. Moreover, we studied the in vitro effect on both platelet transmembrane cationic transport and fluidity, by incubating LDL from 30 obese subjects with platelets from 30 control subjects. The analysis of the chemical composition of LDL from obese patients showed a significant increase in the percent content of total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TGs) and in the mean levels of lipid hydroperoxides compared to controls' LDL. Platelet Na+/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase activities showed, respectively, a significant decrease and increase in patients compared to controls; minor significant, respectively, decreases and increases are shown also in control platelets incubated with LDL from obese patients. Anisotropy tested with TMA‐DPH probe was significantly increased both in platelets from obese patients and in control platelets incubated with LDL from obese patients compared to control platelets. This study highlights that obesity induces remarkable modifications both in lipoproteins and platelets. Both platelet hyperfunction and quantitative/qualitative alterations in plasma lipoproteins, as well as an altered interaction between circulating lipoproteins and platelets, might play a relevant role in the increased prevalence of the early atherosclerotic lesions development in obese subjects. The present data point out that obesity might represent a major potentially modifiable risk factor for the onset of numerous complications, in particular cardiovascular ones.

Eating disorders (ED) are a group of important psychiatric disorders that affect young men and women, and can have serious consequences. Among all ED, anorexia nervosa (AN) is the most typical but also the most severe. The pathogenesis of AN is multifactorial and a great variety of cognitive deficits may contribute to its pathogenesis. The present study is aimed to measure NO and peroxynitrite production, iNOS and nNOS expression by Western immunoblot after incubation of AN lipoproteins at different times with human astrocytoma cells. The AN-HDL treated cells showed an increased production of NO at 3 h versus control-HDL treated cells and a decreased production at 24 h. Regarding LDL, a significant increase of NO production was obtained both at 3 and 24 h. The AN-HDL and AN-LDL treated cells showed an increased production of peroxynitrite both at 3 and 24 h compared to control lipoproteins. Densitometric analysis of bands indicated that both iNOS and nNOS protein levels were significantly higher in the cells incubated with AN lipoproteins compared to cells incubated with control lipoproteins both at 3 and 24 h. Although the pathogenesis of AN remains uncertain, evidence exists that modifications to the lipoprotein profile and cholesterol, structural alterations of phospholipids and integral constituents of myelin and synaptosomes may be related to psychotic disorders and body image distortion common to AN. Thus, a relevant pathophysiological association between NO and depression is certainly a possibility, as well as a central role played by NO in the pathogenesis.

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