The effect of cysteamine bitartrate on adiponectin multimerization in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and healthy subjects.

Objective: To determine the effects of cysteamine on adiponectin multimerization in sera of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Study Design: Sera from 10 children with biopsy-proven NAFLD treated with cysteamine were assayed for adiponectin multimers at baseline, after 24 weeks of treatment, and again 16 weeks after discontinuing treatment. Pretreatment sera from subjects with NAFLD and from adult controls without NAFLD controls (n = 8) were incubated in cysteamine and multimers were measured 1 hour later.