Norethindrone Acetate, Postheparin Lipolytic Activity, and Plasma Triglycerides in Familial Types I, III, IV, and V Hyperlipoproteinemia

Norethindrone acetate, a synthetic progestagen, was given to 5 normal persons and 26 patients with familial types I, III, IV, and V hyperlipoproteinemia. Triglyceride levels fell in all women with type V, in some males with type V, and in 9 of 13 patients with types III and IV hyperlipoproteinemia. Triglycerides did not fall in the two patients with familial type I hyperlipoproteinemia. Decrements in triglyceride induced by norethindrone acetate were often associated with simultaneous increments in postheparin lipolytic activity and postheparin triglyceride lipase. Triglyceride clearing was most marked in those women with type V, whose low postheparin lipolytic activity was elevated into the normal range during therapy.