Correlation of the plasma levels of insulin-sensitizing, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic adiponectin with HDL has been demonstrated. However, its relation to HDL-bound paraoxonase 1 (PON1) has not been clarified. The association of serum PON1 activity with findings of metabolic syndrome was investigated in three age and sex-matched groups: (1) non-diabetic overweight subjects with BMI 28-39.9 kg/m(2) (n=25); (2) non-diabetic obese subjects with BMI>or=40 kg/m(2) (n=25); and (3) healthy, normal-weight controls (n=24). Of the parameters investigated, PON1 activity correlated positively with concentrations of HDL-C and adiponectin, and correlated negatively with BMI, waist circumference, systolic BP, levels of HbA(1C), and insulin, HOMA-IR, and TBARS. The positive correlation between adiponectin and PON1 remained significant even after adjustments for age, gender, BMI, blood pressure, HOMA-IR, HDL-C, LDL-C, and lipid peroxidation.
Conclusions: PON1 activity shows negative association with markers of metabolic syndrome. We demonstrate that adiponectin is an independent variable of serum PON1, which may contribute to the anti-atherosclerotic effect of adiponectin.