Subjects characteristics
A total of 220 NAFLD participants were recruited and followed up for 12 months 5, only 6 month intervention were concerned in the present study (flow diagram was showed in Fig. S1). There were no significant difference in basic anthropometric data among three groups (Table S1); after 6 month exercise training, main clinical characteristics changed (Table S2), particularly, IHTG content were significant decreased (by 5.0% in the vigorous exercise, P < 0.001; 4.2% in the moderate exercise, P < 0.001), but high-intensity exercise offered no additional benefit to moderate intensity exercise in decreasing IHTG (P = 0.45) 5, 10.
Uhplc-ms/ms Method Validation
For determination of DMGV concentration in human serum, serum sample preparation, LC condition and MS parameters of m/z 202.1→71.1 was carefully optimized. The lower limit of detection (LLOD) of DMGV in human serum was 1 ng/ml, and the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 5 ng/ml. Calibration curve, accuracy, precision of intra-day and inter-day, recovery and matrix effect were carefully validated and all within the acceptable limit (data were not shown).
Correlation Between Dmgv Levels And Clinical Characteristics At Baseline
There were no significant difference on DMGV concentration among three groups at baseline (P = 0.842). Serum DMGV levels were positive associated with age, visceral fat and IHTG content, and inversely associated with fasting blood glucose, diastolic blood pressure (Table 1). After adjusting age, sex, BMI (body mass index) and visceral fat, correlation with IHTG remained highly significant (β coefficient = 0.169, P = 0.021), moreover, DMGV was still significant positive associated with IHTG after additional adjusting weight, subcutaneous fat, fasting blood glucose and DBP (β coefficient = 0.174, P = 0.018).
Table 1
Bivariate analysis between DMGV concentration and clinical characteristics in NAFLD subjects at baseline (n = 220).
Variables | r | P |
Age | 0.177 | 0.013 |
Fasting blood glucose | -0.193 | 0.007 |
Total cholesterol (TC) | 0.052 | 0.479 |
Total Triglyceride (TG) | -0.016 | 0.833 |
High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) | 0.087 | 0.231 |
Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) | -0.064 | 0.384 |
Alanine transaminase (ALT) | 0.11 | 0.139 |
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) | 0.122 | 0.095 |
γ-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) | -0.097 | 0.186 |
Systolic blood pressure (SBP) | -0.073 | 0.31 |
Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) | -0.156 | 0.03 |
Weigh | -0.135 | 0.061 |
Body Mass Index (BMI) | -0.121 | 0.095 |
Waist circumference | -0.082 | 0.257 |
Visceral fat | 0.16 | 0.027 |
Subcutaneous fat | 0.128 | 0.077 |
Total Fat | 0.11 | 0.13 |
Intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) content | 0.19 | 0.009 |
Subjects were divided into four quartiles according to DMGV levels, TG, LDL-C, ALT, AST, GGT, SBP, weigh, BMI, subcutaneous fat and total fat were did not different in these four groups (Table 2), visceral fat and IHTG content were elevated with higher DMGV levels (P < 0.001). Moreover, DMGV levels were elevated with higher IHTG content when subjects were divided into four quartiles according to IHTG content (Fig. 1).
Table 2
Clinical characteristics as DMGV levels were divided into four quartiles (data were presented as mean ± SD).
Variables | Quartile 1 (n = 55) | Quartile 2 (n = 55) | Quartile 3 (n = 55) | Quartile 4 (n = 55) | P |
DMGV, ng/ml | 18.3 ± 4.3 | 29.6 ± 4.8*** | 60.0 ± 10.0*** | 84.9 ± 6.6*** | < 0.001 |
Age, years | 51.7 ± 7.1 | 54.7 ± 6.9* | 53.1 ± 7.4 | 56.7 ± 5.2** | 0.001 |
Fasting blood glucose, mg/dl | 106.7 ± 9.6 | 104.4 ± 9.5 | 101.8 ± 9.8* | 101.1 ± 9.7** | 0.022 |
TC, mg/dl | 222.6 ± 36.0 | 232.8 ± 33.8 | 241.3 ± 40.1** | 222.8 ± 37.0 | 0.023 |
TG, mg/dl | 168. 1 ± 79.4 | 175.5 ± 68.7 | 168.2 ± 70.1 | 159.2 ± 47.3 | 0.689 |
HDL-C, mg/dl | 45.0 ± 7.9 | 47.7 ± 6.6 | 52.4 ± 9.9*** | 47.4 ± 7.7 | < 0.001 |
LDL-C, mg/dl | 144.9 ± 29.3 | 143.7 ± 27.6 | 152.0 ± 43.4 | 133.5 ± 35.7 | 0.051 |
ALT, U/L | 23.8 ± 6.9 | 24. 9 ± 8.4 | 26.1 ± 10.9 | 25.3 ± 8.3 | 0.602 |
AST, U/L | 22.6 ± 3.4 | 23.7 ± 5.4 | 23.4 ± 5.98 | 24.3 ± 5.3 | 0.420 |
FFT, U/L | 39.8 ± 17. 9 | 36.6 ± 20.1 | 33.9 ± 17.1 | 32.3 ± 12.7* | 0.117 |
SBP, mmHg | 134.5 ± 15.4 | 134.4 ± 14.5 | 128.6 ± 13.1* | 133.1 ± 15.9 | 0.120 |
DBP, mmHg | 82.0 ± 10.2 | 82.4 ± 8.3 | 77.6 ± 8.7* | 79.5 ± 9.1 | 0.020 |
Weigh, kg | 72.8 ± 8.6 | 72.0 ± 9.8 | 69.5 ± 8.6* | 70.1 ± 8.1 | 0.177 |
BMI, kg/m2 | 28.2 ± 2.9 | 27.8 ± 2.6 | 27.5 ± 2.1 | 27.6 ± 2.5 | 0.431 |
Waist circumference, cm | 96.3 ± 7.1 | 95.6 ± 6.4 | 92.9 ± 5.2** | 96.0 ± 6.6 | 0.026 |
Visceral fat, cm2 | 116.1 ± 32.9 | 126.9 ± 33.0 | 141.6 ± 37.5*** | 146.1 ± 29.4*** | < 0.0001 |
Subcutaneous fat, cm2 | 230.4 ± 78.7 | 213.6 ± 55.2 | 232.5 ± 58.3 | 244.8 ± 69.3 | 0.116 |
Total Fat, kg | 23.5 ± 5.4 | 22.1 ± 3.8 | 23.1 ± 3.7 | 24.6 ± 4.9 | 0.051 |
IHTG content, % | 12.8 ± 5. 6 | 13.8 ± 6.1 | 17.9 ± 6.5*** | 20.4 ± 8.5*** | < 0.0001 |
P value was calculated among four groups by ANOVA analysis |
* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, vs Quartile 1 |
Dmgv Levels Changes After Exercise Intervention
After 6 month exercise training, DMGV levels were decreased by moderate (-9.96 to 2.27 ng/ml, P < 0.001) and vigorous exercise training (-4.53 to 4.56 ng/ml, P = 0.762) (Fig. 2). Compared to control, moderate exercise was more efficient on decreasing DMGV concentration than vigorous exercise with a significant difference (P = 0.047) (Fig. 3).
Correlation between baseline DMGV levels and longitudinal changes of clinical characteristics
Baseline DMGV levels were inversely correlated with the changes of waist circumference (r=-0.312, P = 0.010) and subcutaneous fat (r=-0.278, P = 0.022), and positive correlated with changes of LDL-C (r = 0.286, P = 0.018) after 6 month moderate exercise training, and it was not associated with changes of IHTG content (r = 0.189, P = 0.122). We then investigate the correlations between changes of DMGV levels and changes of clinical parameters, unfortunately, there were no strong correlation (data were not shown).