In subject with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a 50% deficiency of receptors for plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) impairs the removal of LDL from plasma and produces hypercholesterolemia. In these patients mevinolin, an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, blocks cholesterol synthesis and lowers plasma LDL levels. To determine the mechanism for the LDL-lo...

The early atherosclerotic lesion is comprised of foam cell macrophages filled with cholesteryl ester (CE), unesterified cholesterol (UC), and cholesterol oxides. Upon incubation of macrophages with oxidized low density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL), they accumulate UC rather than CE, which was shown to accumulate after incubation of cells with acetylated LDL (Ac-LDL). Using lipoproteins that were doubly...

Incubation of mouse peritoneal macrophages with native human low density lipoprotein (LDL) did not cause any significant storage of intracellular cholesteryl esters. However, when the LDL was subjected to brief (30-second) vortexing, it formed self-aggregates that were rapidly ingested and degraded by macrophages, converting them to cholesteryl ester-rich foam cells. Such aggregates were as pot...

Versican-like proteoglycans are the main component of the intimal extracellular matrix interacting with low density lipoprotein (LDL). The aim of this study has been to investigate the receptors involved in versican-modified LDL uptake by human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We have found that versican-LDL interaction leads to the following: (1) monomeric LDL particles that are similar i...

Electronegative low density lipoprotein (LDL(-)) formation that structurally resembles LDL(-) isolated from plasma was evaluated after LDL treatment with snake venom phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)). PLA(2) treatment of LDL increased its electrophoretic mobility in proportion to the amount of LDL(-) formed without evidence of lipid peroxidation. These changes dose-dependently correlated with the deg...

OBJECTIVE LDLs include particle subclasses that have different mobilities on polyacrylamide gradient gels: LDL-I (27.2 to 28.5 nm), LDL-IIa (26.5 to 27.2 nm), LDL-IIb (25.6 to 26.5 nm), LDL-IIIa (24.7 to 25.6 nm), LDL-IIIb (24.2 to 24.7 nm), LDL-IVa (23.3 to 24.2 nm), and LDL-IVb (22.0 to 23.3 nm in diameter). We hypothesized that the association between smaller LDL particles and coronary arter...

The atherosclerotic lesion is characterized by the presence of cholesterol-loaded foam cells. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells do not normally store cholesteryl esters because low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors are suppressed by exposure of these cells to LDL cholesterol. We transfected LDL receptor cDNA linked to the simian virus 40 early promoter into CHO cells (CHO 29) and found that L...

OBJECTIVES We assessed relations of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particle number (LDL-P) and LDL particle size as measured by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and the risk of future coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND Whereas LDL-C is an established risk factor for CAD, its discriminative power is limited. Measuring LDL-P and size may have stronger a...

Treatment of low density lipoprotein (LDL) with degrading enzymes transforms the molecule to a moiety that is micromorphologically indistinguishable from lipoproteinaceous particles that are present in atherosclerotic plaques, and enzymatically modified LDL (E-LDL), but not oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), spontaneously activates the alternative complement pathway, as do lesion lipoprotein derivatives. F...