All the major classes of the serum lipoproteins may be precipitated with sulfated polysaccharides and divalent cations.
Burstein, et al. (1972) have shown that at neutral pH and in the presence of Ca
++, Mg
++ and heparin, lipoproteins can be precipitated from human serum. Methods have been developed for the isolation of the different classes of lipoproteins, i. e., low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), and chylomicron by the stepwise addition of the reagents and increasing the ionic strength by the addition of sodium chloride.
We developed quantitative precipitation method using heparin and CaCl
2 solution by establishment of the standard solution, based on comparison between precipitation and ultracentrifugation methods. Quantitative estimation of the individual lipoprotein classes provides major advantages over other simplified techniques for various hyperlipoproteinemias.
1) Heparin-Ca
++ precipitation method
i) Reagents: (I) 0.005% heparin in 0.05M CaCl
2 solution, (II) 0.005% heparin and 0.6% NaCl in 0.05M CaCl
2 solution, and (III) 0.005% heparin and 0.9% NaCl in 0.05M CaCl
2 solution.
ii) Methods: 4ml of each solution is added to each of three tubes. To each added is 0.1ml of serum, respectively. The tubes are mixed and after 15min. at room temperature, turbidity is measured at 650nm. Turbidity in tube No. 1 represents the sum of chylomicrons, VLDL and LDL. Tube No. 2 turbidity corresponds to chylomicrons plus VLDL and tube No. 3 turbidity to chylomicron alone.
2) Quantitative ultracentrifugation
VLDL fraction is prepared by ultracentrifugation at 105, 400×G at 20°C for 25hrs. The LDL plus VLDL fraction is prepared form the serum-NaCl mixture with the density of 1.1315+0.0005, by ultracentrifugation at 105, 400×G at 20°C for 16hrs. Each lipoprotein fraction weighed after desiccation at 60°C and also after dry asking at 600°C, respectively. From the difference of both weights, the amount of each lipoprotein fraction is calculated by the established formula.
3) Correlation between heparin-Ca
++, and ultracentrifugation method
The correlation coefficient of the LDL plus VLDL fraction for the two methods was 0.75 and the regression line was Y=0.38X-9.8, and VLDL fraction for both methods giving a correlation coefficient of 0.82 and the regression line of Y=0.33X-19.4.
4) Preparation of standard solution
Because the standard lipoprotein solutions can not be obtained, the adequate latex emulsion has been prepared by the correlation between heparin-CaCl
2 and ultracentrifugation method.
View full abstract