Relationship between plasma lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase activity and plasma triglyceride concentration in non-pregnant and pregnant Brazilian women.

Plasma concentrations of total, esterified and unesterified cholesterol, total phospholipid and triglyceride (TG) and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity were measured for 28 young non-pregnant women and for 31 young pregnant women from the city of Campina Grande, Brazil. During pregnancy plasma lipid levels and LCAT activity were successively increased and subsequently fell in post-partum samples. For both non-pregnant women and during each trimester of pregnancy and post-partum the activity of LCAT was significantly and positively correlated with the plasma concentrations of each lipid, the highest degree of correlation being found between LCAT and TG. No significant increase in plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol occurred during pregnancy, and this parameter was not significantly correlated with LCAT activity in either pregnant or non-pregnant women. Instead low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was significantly increased in pregnancy and was significantly, positively, correlated with LCAT activity in both pregnant and non-pregnant women. The results emphasize the probable importance of LCAT in the metabolism of LDL and triglyceride-rich very low density lipoproteins, and pregnancy may provide a useful model for further studies of the physiological role of LCAT.