Clinical significance of small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels determined by the simple precipitation method.
OBJECTIVE
Recently, we established a simple method for the quantification of small dense LDL cholesterol (C) using heparin-magnesium precipitation. The small dense LDL-C level was identical to cholesterol in the denser LDL fraction with a density of 1.044 to 1.063 g/mL. The aim of this study was to examine clinical significance of this precipitation method for small dense LDL-C.


RESULTS
Small dense LDL-C was measured by a direct homogenous LDL-C assay in the supernatant that remained after heparin-magnesium precipitation with density <1.044 lipoproteins. In 313 normolipidemic subjects, the mean value of small dense LDL-C was 31+/-13 mg/dL. In 462 healthy subjects, small dense LDL-C levels were positively correlated with serum triglyceride and LDL-C and were inversely correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Combined hyperlipidemia showed the highest small dense LDL-C level among the various types of hyperlipidemia. Patients with type 2 diabetes had an increased small dense LDL-C level (55+/-17). Patients with coronary heart disease also had increased small dense LDL-C levels (53+/-30) irrespective of the presence of diabetes, whereas their LDL-C levels were comparable to those of normolipidemic controls (111+/-31 versus 104+/-22).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that measurement of small dense LDL-C by the present precipitation method is useful to evaluate atherogenic risk and may be applicable to routine clinical examination.
Hirano
Tsutomu
T
First Department of Internal Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8666, Japan. hirano@med.showa-u.ac.jp
Ito
Yasuki
Y
Koba
Shinji
S
Toyoda
Miwako
M
Ikejiri
Ayako
A
Saegusa
Haruhisa
H
Yamazaki
Jun-ichi
J
Yoshino
Gen
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006493:Heparin; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008274:Magnesium; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012306:Risk; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006493:Heparin; D008274:Magnesium; D014280:Triglycerides