The ability to quantify cholesterol and/or cholesteryl ester deposits in vivo noninvasively, a goal not yet achieved, could greatly facilitate new discoveries in atherosclerosis progression and regression. In this issue of iJACC, Duivenvoorden et al. (1) report progress in a H-magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic technique that samples an approximate 5-mm cubic voxel in the region of the carot...

Lipids secreted form the bovine meibomian glands were assigned to following classes: cholesteryl esters (A) (fatty acyl chain lengths from 15 to 27 carbon atoms), 41%; wax esters, 29%; triacylglycerols, 10%; and cholesteryl ester (B) (fatty acyl chain lengths from 14 to 18 carbons), 15%. The remaining 5% consisted of cholesterol, fatty acids, and highly polar material. Analysis of the lipids sh...

Oxidized LDL is present in human atherosclerotic lesions, but the mechanisms responsible for oxidation in vivo have not been definitively demonstrated. Circumstantial evidence has implicated the enzyme 15-lipoxygenase as a contributor to the formation of oxidized lipids in this disease. To assess whether oxidized lipids are indeed formed by the action of 15-lipoxygenase on polyunsaturated fatty...

Animals fed cholesterol accumulate several types of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins in their plasma and ultimately develop cholesteryl ester deposition in tissue macrophages. Previous studies in the cholesterol-fed dog have shown that one class of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins. beta-migrating very low density lipoproteins (beta-VLDL, density < 1.006 g/ml), possesses a unique ability to produce ce...

This study investigates the ability of human plasma-derived lipid transfer protein to facilitate lipid transfer to and from intact viable cells in culture. Mouse peritoneal macrophages or J774 macrophages were preincubated with acetylated low density lipoprotein and [3H]oleate/albumin to promote the intracellular synthesis and accumulation of cholesteryl [3H]oleate and 3H-labeled triglyceride. ...

PURPOSE To isolate and characterize cholesteryl ester-containing, lipoprotein-like particles (LLPs) from normal aged human Bruch's membrane (BrM)/choroid (Ch). METHODS From BrM/Ch of 20 eyes of 10 donors aged >60 years, LLPs were released by high-salt buffer, fractionated by density gradient ultracentrifugation, and characterized by determining cholesterol, triglyceride, and phospholipid conc...

AIM To investigate the mechanisms and dynamics of cholesteryl ester (neutral lipid) transfer protein activity in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. METHODS Eighty six Caucasian subjects were recruited by advertisement from the local population between January 1998 and December 1999. The activity of cholesteryl ester transfer protein in 44 non-obese subjects with impaired glucose tolera...

Lipoprotein-proteoglycan complexes from human atherosclerotic lesions were studied to determine their ability to stimulate cholesteryl ester accumulation in human monocytes/macrophages. Complexes containing apolipoprotein (apo) B lipoproteins and proteoglycans were extracted from fatty streaks and fibrous plaque lesions of human aortas by extraction with 0.15 M NaCl. Fractionation of the comple...

The uptake of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-associated apolipoprotein A-I and cholesterol esters was estimated in 16 tissues of the rat using rat HDL doubly labeled with nondegradable tracers; covalently attached 125I-tyramine-cellobiose traced apo-A-I, and [3H]cholesteryl linoleyl ether traced cholesterol esters. Both labels remained associated with the HDL fraction in the plasma, adequately ...

OBJECTIVES This study hypothesized that (1)H magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) can identify carotid plaque cholesteryl ester in vivo in humans. BACKGROUND Liquid phase cholesteryl ester comprises a major fraction of atherosclerotic plaque, and its abundance is associated with plaque rupture and atherothrombosis. A noninvasive imaging technique to detect liquid cholesteryl ester that ...