Associations of Three Erythrocyte Cation Transport Systems with Plasma Lipids in Utah Subjects

SUMMARY To investigate the pathophysiology of essential hypertension, detailed biochemical and clinical variables were collected and analyzed for 2091 Utah subjects aged 3 to 83 years. Three different measurements of erythrocyte cation transport were obtained: Na+-Li+ countertransport, Li+-K+ cotransport, and furosemide-insensitive Li+ efflux into MgCI2. Total plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were obtained from fasting subjects. Levels of high density lipoprotein subfractions 2 and 3 were also obtained from 350 subjects. Stan-dardized data collection also included blood pressure, height, weight, and presence or absence of a diagnosis or treatment of essential hypertension. In univariate analyses of all 1420 adults, each of the three transport systems showed the same significant correlations with triglyceride levels (r = 0.33-0.35, p < 0.0001), high density lipoprotein concentration (r =- 0.19 to- 0.21, p < 0.001), and weight (r = 0.22-0.28, p < 0.0001). In multivariate regression analyses, values for each transport system were significantly higher in hypertensive subjects; values for triglycerides, high density lipo-protein, and usually, the high density lipoprotein subfractions continued to have strong significant independent associations with all three transport systems; and weight remained significantly related only to Na+-Li+ countertransport. In separate logistic regressions, plasma triglyceride levels (posi