The abnormal lipoprotein of cholestasis.

Abstract

Recent studies have defined the physical and chemical characteristics of a unique lipoprotein that accumulates in the plasma of patients with obstructive jaundice.1 2 3 4 This lipoprotein accounts for the hyperlipidemia long known to accompany intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary obstruction. Improved technics have shown that the abnormal particle contains little or no nonpolar lipid (cholesteryl esters and triglycerides). It consists chiefly of a 1:1 molar mixture of cholesterol and phospholipids (mainly lecithin) and of less than 5 per cent protein. By negative-staining electron microscopy with potassium phosphotungstate, the abnormal particle appears as a disk of about 100 by 500 Å. Its flattened . . .