Association of fat mass profile with natriuretic peptide receptor alpha in subcutaneous adipose tissue of medication-free healthy men: A cross-sectional study.

Atrial natriuretic peptide increases lipolysis in human adipocytes by binding to natriuretic peptide receptor-A (NPRA). The aim of the current study was to examine the associations of NPRA mRNA of subcutaneous adipose tissue with fat mass, fat-free mass, body mass index (BMI) and arterial blood pressure in medication-free healthy men. Thirty-two volunteers [age (years): 36.06±7.36, BMI: 27.60±4.63 (kg/m )] underwent assessments of body height/weight, % fat mass, fat-free mass (kg), blood pressure, and a subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsy via a surgical technique. We found that NPRA mRNA was negatively associated with % fat mass (r=-0.40, R =0.16, p=0.03) and BMI (r=-0.45, R =0.20, p=0.01). Cohen's effect size analyses showed a small effect size between NPRA mRNA and BMI ( =0.25). One-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post-hoc tests showed a tendency for mean differences of NPRA mRNA across BMI categories (p=0.06). This was confirmed by Cohen's effect size analyses revealing a large effect size of NPRA mRNA between obese individuals (BMI≥30 kg/m ) and either normal weight (BMI=19-25 kg/m ; =0.94) or overweight (BMI=25-30 kg/m ; =1.12) individuals. NPRA mRNA is negatively associated with % fat mass and BMI in medication-free healthy men, suggesting a possible role of NPRA in the control of fat mass accumulation.