A new technique for the investigation of the low-density lipoproteins in health and disease

Abstract

There is need for a simpler method of estimating triglyceride-rich lipoprotein concentrations than those at present available. We here describe a new technique in which the concentration of very low density lipoproteins ( S f 20−10 5 is estimated by measurement, in a new micronephelometer, of the intensity of red light scattered from undiluted or diluted serum samples. Lipoprotein separation is carried out by ultra-filtration of diluted serum through cellulose ester membrane fiters, and the relative concentration of the particles of different sizes is estimated by measurement of the changes in light-scattering intensity after each filtration. The measurement of light-scattering intensity (L.S.I.) is found to be highly correlated with the serum triglyceride level in samples from fasting subjects. The influence of age, sex, relative body weight, diet, caloric balance and ischaemic heart dissease on L.S.I, of filtered and unfiltered serum samples from fasting and non-fasting subjects has been studied. These results are discussed and are shown to correlate well with those obtained by more elaborate and complex methods of lipoprotein analysis.