Hypertriglyceridemia associated with Trypanosoma brucei brucei infection in rabbits: role of defective triglyceride removal.

Rabbits infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei develop a hypertriglyceridemia characterized by an increase in very low density lipoprotein and, to a lesser extent, low density lipoprotein, with a decrease in high density lipoprotein. Triglyceride production studies showed that the triglyceride production rate was not significantly different in trypanosome-infected rabbits from controls. Studies of triglyceride degradation using very low density lipoprotein triglyceride endogenously labelled with [3H]palmitate demonstrated a marked slowing of triglyceride removal in the infected rabbits when compared to controls. Lipase activity in post-heparin plasma was found to be deficient in trypanosome-infected animals. Furthermore, the greater the decrease in lipolytic activity, the greater the increase in serum triglyceride level. We conclude that the hypertriglyceridemia associated with T. b. brucei infection in rabbits results predominantly from a defect in triglyceride degradation.