title: Low density lipoprotein is saturable by pro-oxidant copper.
abstract: The oxidative resistance of low density lipoprotein (LDL) can be experimentally described by the length of time during which no significant lipid peroxidation is observed in a pro-oxidant environment. This period of inhibited oxidation, termed the 'lag phase', is partially due to the radical scavenging reactions of the anti-oxidants contained in the LDL particle. We have shown that the LDL lag time decreases with increasing copper concentration, leveling out at a relatively high copper-to-LDL ratio. This behaviour demonstrates the existence of a finite number of saturable pro-oxidant copper binding sites within the LDL particle. The relationship is described by the equation, lag time = [Cu]-1.K.tmin+tmin where the constant, K, is the negative reciprocal of the x-axis intercept of the graphed function, and tmin is given by the y-axis intercept. By this definition of the constant, K is the amount of copper that will produce a lag time of twice tmin, while tmin is the minimum time a particular LDL will resist oxidation at a maximum copper concentration.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gieseg
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esterbauer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D003300:Copper