Tehran University Medical Journal

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Cyclosporine is one of the main immunosuppressors used for renal transplant recipients, and is given to prevent transplant rejection. Although the drug increases the survival of patients and grafted organs, it has some side effects independent of its effect on the immune system that are usually ignored. In this study, we evaluate the effect of cyclosporine on serum Mg levels and metabolic side effects in renal graft patients.
Methods: In this study, we followed 157 renal transplant recipients (62 females and 95 males) who were being treated with cyclosporine at a private clinic to prevent transplant rejection. The patients were first physically examined and then blood samples were obtained in order to measure levels of cyclosporine, Mg, creatinine, fasting blood sugar, lipids, calcium, phosphorus, and uric acid levels. We then analyzed the data for correlations between serum Mg levels, cyclosporine and other metabolic complications.
Results: The mean levels of Mg and cyclosporine were 196±0.31mg/dl and 371±192 μg/dl, respectively. Hypomagnesemia was detected in 16 patients (10.2%).There was a significant negative correlation (p<0.05) between levels of Mg and cyclosporine levels (r=-0.53), serum creatinine (r=-0.61), plasma LDL (r=-0.3), fasting blood sugar (r=-0.60) and uric acid (r=-0.36), and no correlation (p>0.05) between levels of Mg and calcium (r=0.2), phosphorus (r=-0.01), triglycerides (r=0.06) and HDL (r=-0.08). Mean levels of cyclosporine, creatinine, LDL, fasting blood sugar and uric acid in patients with hypomagnesemia were significantly different from those patients with normal serum Mg levels (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups with regard to mean total cholesterol, HDL, calcium and phosphorus (p>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results of this and previous studies, there is a significant correlation between cyclosporine levels and hypomagnesemia as well as other biomedical complications secondary to hypomagnesemia. Therefore, we recommend routine serum Mg determination and greater attention to hypomagnesemic patients to prevent further complications.

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Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death worldwide and hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia are major risk factors for the disease. Considering the role of hyperlipidemia as the underlying cause of cardiovascular mortalities and morbidities, and the limited and conflicting results of studies on CETP gene polymorphisms in Iran, we aimed to study -971 G/A polymorphism of cholesterol ester transfer protein gene in patients with primary hyperlipidemia.
Methods: In this case-control study performed in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (from May 2010 to April 2011), we recruited 200 patients with primary hyperlipidemia (total cholesterol >250 mg/dl and/or triglyceride >200 mg/dl) as the cases and 200 healthy individuals with normal cholesterol and triglyceride as the control group. Gene segments were replicated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and -971 G/A polymorphism genotypes were identified by RFLP technique. Subsequently, plasma CETP activity was measured enzymeatically by a kit in a fluorescence spectrometer.
Results: The allele and genotype frequencies were not significantly different (P>0.05) between the two groups (in the control group: AA 24%, GA 47% and GG 28.5% and in the case group: AA 18%, GA 51% and GG 31%). In the case group, homozygous individuals with A alleles (AA genotype) had greater cholesterol and HDL-c concentrations than those with other alleles (GG and GA). In both cases and controls, individuals with AA genotype had lower CETP concentrations.
Conclusion: We conclude that -971 G/A polymorphism in CETP gene promoter can affect lipid profile and alter CETP activity.

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Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of progressive balding that appears with early loss of hair, chiefly from the vertex. There has been significant relationship between AGA with coronary artery disease and related risk factors, such as hypertension in some studies. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between androgenetic alopecia with hyperlipidemia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 112 patients with vertex type AGA (in male grade 3 or higher Hamilton- Norwood scale, and in female grade 2 or higher Ludwig scale) (study group) and 115 persons age and sex matched, with normal hair status (Normal group). None of participants had diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, liver disease, kidney disease and none of them had history of smoking and using drugs with effect on serum lipids. They were 20-35 years old and their body mass index were 20-30. Blood samples were obtained following 12 hours fasting status and serum levels of triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were determined using standard laboratory methods. Total cholesterol greater than 240 or TG greater than 200 or LDL greater than 160 or HDL less than 40 in men or HDL less than 50 in women were considered hyperlipidemia.
Results: In androgenetic alopecia group 46.4% and 47% of normal group were female. Mean (±SE) of total cholesterol (172.4±3.1, 148.8±3.1, P< 0.001), TG (133.6±5.5, 88.3±4.3, P< 0.001), LDL (96.4±2.9, 84.9±2.7, P= 0.004) and HDL (54.9±2.0, 45.5±0.9, P< 0.001) in AGA patients were higher than normal group. %46.4 of patients and %52.2 of controls had hyperlipidemia. Relationship between AGA with hyperlipidemia was not significant (P> 0.05).
Conclusion: The findings showed that there is no relationship between AGA and hyperlipidemia. Regarding to high levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglyceride in AGA patients, it seems that, AGA increases risk of coronary heart disease. To determine a definite association between AGA and hyperlipidemia more studies are recommended.

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Background: Many studies have reported the effect of metronidazole on reducing blood lipids in different ways, but there is no comprehensive estimation about its effect. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of metronidazole on reducing blood lipid by meta-analysis method.

Methods: This is a systematic review based on the reliable local and international websites including SID, Magiran, Iranmedex, ISI, Pubmed and Scopus. The keywords used for searching were metronidazole, blood lipid, cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and height density lipoprotein (HDL). All articles published until the end of March, 2015, about the effect of metronidazole on blood lipids reduction which met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Three independent reviewers checked studies for quality and eligibility and finally extracted the data. The collected data were analyzed by meta-analysis method (random effects model) and by means of Stata, ver. 11.1 (College Station, TX, USA) with a significance level of less than 5%.

Results: In 10 researches, 292 people had been studied and after taking metronidazole, the calculated amount of reduction in blood lipids was 11% (95% CI: 6%-16%) for cholesterol, 14% (95% CI: 4%-24%) for triglyceride and 8% (95% CI: 1%-15%) for low density lipoprotein (LDL) which was statistically significant (P= 0.001). The amount of increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) was also calculated to be 1% (95% CI: 1%-2%) which was not statistically significant (P= 0.08).

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that, using metronidazole leads to decrease in the amount of cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein (LDL) but it seems that it has not any effect on the increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL).

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