[Clinical use of pantethine by parenteral route in the treatment of hyperlipidemia]. / Impiego clinico della pantetina per via parenterale nella terapia delle dislipidemie.

Recent investigations have confirmed the effectiveness and the excellent tolerability of pantethine, a derivative of pantetheine, an essential part of the acetylation coenzyme CoA, administered P.O., in normalizing the blood lipid concentrations of patients with hyperlipidemias. A group of 18 patients with hyperlipidemias (9 M, 9 F), with an average age of 52.6 years, was submitted to pantethine parenteral treatment. After a 20 days wash-out, pantethine (400 mg/day; BID) was administered intramuscularly, for 20 days. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, apo A-1 and B lipoprotein, uric acid in serum, glycemia, CBC, B.U.N., creatininemia, E.S.R., SGOT, SGPT, bilirubinemia, cardiac frequency, blood pressure and body weight were controlled before and after treatment. The drug showed to have a therapeutic effectiveness by a rapid and significant improvement in the blood lipid pattern with reduction of total cholesterol, triglycerides and apo-B lipoprotein and increase of HDL-cholesterol and apo A-1 lipoprotein. The tolerability of pantethine at the stated dosage and mode of administration was invariably excellent, with non complaints or visible side effects imputable to the test drug. BUN, creatininemia, glycemia, SGOT, SGPT, bilirubinemia, E.S.R., CBC, cardiac frequency and blood pressure readings showed no noteworthy changes throughout the study.

[Dietary fiber and OGTT: blood sugar variations after administration of a new purified glucomannane]. / Fibre dietetiche ed OGTT: variazioni glicemiche dopo somministrazione di un nuovo glucomannano purificato.

After having stressed the importance of fibres in the nutritional field, pointing out the inverse relationship between vegetal fibres consumption in various populations and diffusion of many diseases of the so-called "industrialized" societies (such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemias, atherosclerosis, cholelithiasis, cancer of the colon, etc.), the Authors report their experiment on a new experimental product based on glucomannane purified (PRL). The present study was carried out on 24 obese subjects (5 males and 19 females). The patients, normoglycemics in their basic condition, were submitted to OGTT with 75 g of glucose in the morning before eating and were subdivided into two groups, the first (Group A) characterized by the sequence OGTT + placebo; after a few days, by another OGTT + experimental product; the second characterized by the inverse sequence. Four tablets (glucomannane purified 5,2 g) and four tablets of placebo was the posology employed. The evaluation of the possible action of the product in reducing or slowing down the intestinal absorption of glucose was the aim of the research. The results obtained show that the administration of the product under study has led to a sharp decrease of the average glycemic values with variations per cent ranging from 13% to 16% in Group A, from 10% to 11% in Group B and from 7% to 12% in the two groups considered on the whole. In conclusion, the Authors wish an increased diffusion of dietary fibres and particularly of the glucomannanes in all those dysmetabolic forms having at their bases an unbalanced, hypercaloric alimentation, rich in refined aliments and poor in fibres.

[Hyperlipidemia, diabetes and atherosclerosis: efficacy of treatment with pantethine]. / Iperlipidemia, diabete ed aterosclerosi: efficacia del trattamento con pantetina.

The hypolipidemizing effects of Pantethine were investigated by the Authors in 37 hypercholesterolemic and/or hypertriglyceridemic patients. Of these, 21 were also diabetic, in a satisfying glucidic compensation, in order to verify the action of this drug also in this metabolic condition. The study was carried out for three months and during this period the patients were given Pantethine at the dose of 600 mg/die orally. At the 30th, the 60th, the 90th day of treatment the following parameters were controlled: cholesterolemia, HDL cholesterol, apolipoproteins A and B, triglyceridemia, systolic and diastolic arterial pressure, uricemia, body weight. Thirty days after suspending the treatment, the parameters were controlled again to detect a possible "rebound" effect. The results were analyzed on the whole case-record, subdividing the patients in dislipidemic and diabetic-dislipidemic, and on the basis of the Fredrickson's classification. Pantethine induced in all groups a quick and progressive decrease of cholesterolemia, triglyceridemia, LDL cholesterol and Apolipoproteins B with increased HDL cholesterol and Apolipoproteins A. After suspending the treatment, there is a clear inversion of the state of these parameters. The Authors conclude that the present work shows that Pantethine, a natural and atoxic substance, an important component of Coenzyme A, is efficacious in determining a clear tendency towards normalization of the lipidic values.