The Effects of Exercise and Smoking on Serum Lecithin: Cholesterol Acyltransferase Activity in Young Men

Authors: CUMHUR KILINÇ, ZÜBEYR YAĞMUR, KURTULUŞ YILMAZ, ÜÇLER KISA

Abstract: Lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is an enzyme responsible for the formation of most cholesteryl esters (CE) in human serum. In this study investigating the effects of exercise and smoking on LCAT acitvity, serum triglyceride (Tg), total cholesterol (C), HDL-C, HDL3-C and LCAT activity were measured in the sera of 29 nonsmoking and 36 smoking (at least one packet/day) young men before and after their 6-week military training period. LCAT activity was determined by measuring the amount of cholesterol esters produced in the incubation of serum and reconstituted HDL including [ 14 C]-cholesterol. Tg and C were measured with enzymatic-colorimetric methods. The measuring of HDL-C and HDL 3 -C was performed by dextran sulphate-MgCl 2 precipitation. Before exercise, serum LCAT activity in the smoking group was found to be significantly lower than that of the nonsmoking group (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between the Tg, C, CDL-C, HDL-C, HDL 2 -C and HDL 3 -C levels of both groups. After exercise, LCAT, HDL-C and HDL 2 -C levels in the nonsmoking group group were significantly higher than those of the smoking group (p<0.001, p<0.05 and p<0.05 respectively) and LDL-C was singificantly lower in the nonsmoking group (p<0.05), although Tg, C and HDL 3 -C did not exhibit any significant difference between the groups. When the data was compared before and after exercise within each group, LCAT, HDL-C and HDL 2 -C levels showed significant increases (p<0.001, p<0.05 and p<0.05 respectively), while LDL-C showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) only in the nonsmoking group. There were no significant differences in the smoking group. The results indicate that regular exercise has some positive effects on LCAT, HDL 2 -C and LDL, and that heavy cigarette smoking may obscure these effects.

Keywords: Exercise, Smoking, LCAT, HDL-C, HDL 2 -C, HDL 3 -C

Full Text: PDF