skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Particle size interconversion of human low density lipoproteins during incubation of plasma with phosphatidylcholine vesicles

Journal Article · · Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.; (United States)

Incubation of plasma (37/sup 0/C, 6hr) in the presence of increasing amounts of phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles, above a threshold concentration, results in an increase in particle diameter of LDL relative to that from nonincubated plasma. With further PC addition, the major peak of LDL in the gradient gel electrophoretic pattern is transformed, first, into a bimodal and, subsequently, into a single peak distribution. PC-induced interconversion of LDL requires factor(s) in the d > 1.20 g/ml fraction and, at PC concentrations below approximately 2 mg/ml, is not inhibited by p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid. Plasma incubation with increasing PC levels also leads to characteristic particle size transformations in HDL/sub 3/ species, with the transformation products ultimately converging to form a single peak pattern within the HDL/sub 2a/ size interval. In certain subjects, incubation of plasma, in the absence of added PC, shifts the particle size distribution of LDL towards smaller species; this can be prevented by addition of PC. We propose that incubation-induced shifts of LDL towards larger or smaller species result from changes in phospholipid (PL) content of LDL.

OSTI ID:
5466793
Journal Information:
Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.; (United States), Vol. 108:2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English