Postprandial adiponectin and gelatinase response to a high-fat versus an isoenergetic low-fat meal in lean, healthy men

Objective: Evidence suggests that an acute systemic inflammatory response is invoked after consumption of a high-energy meal. Postprandial regulation of adiponectin, an adipose tissue-derived, anti-inflammatory hormone, and the gelatinases, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, endopeptidases implicated in a diverse range of inflammatory processes, remain inconclusive. The aim of this study was to assess the postprandial effect of a high-energy (1212kcal) meal on plasma adiponectin, MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity, glucose, insulin, triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and the differential effects on these parameters depending on whether the test meal was high fat (HF; 46g fat, 1210kcal) or isoenergetic and low fat (LF; 15g fat, 1214kcal energy). Methods: Test meals were consumed by 17 lean, healthy men on two separate occasions with blood samples collected by venipuncture at baseline (0h) and 1 and 3h after consumption of each test meal. Results: At baseline, no significant difference was seen in the parameters between the two groups, except for MMP-2, MMP-9, and total cholesterol. Over the 3-h postprandial period, no significant differential effect of the HF versus the LF test meal was observed on adiponectin, MMP-2, MMP-9, or on metabolic markers other than triacylglycerol, which increased significantly in response to the HF test meal (time×treatment, P=0.002). When analyzed independent of time, MMP-2 (treatment, P=0.006), MMP-9 (treatment, P=0.022), and glucose (treatment, P=0.026) were lower after consumption of the HF meal compared with the LF test meal. When analyzed independent of treatment, adiponectin increased over the 3-h postprandial period (time, P=0.031), but there was no change in MMP-2 or MMP-9 (time, P=0.503 and P=0.525, respectively). Over the 3-h postprandial period, insulin (time, P