UCSF

Elevated levels of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs), both fasting and postprandial, are associated with increased risk for atherosclerosis. However, guidelines for treatment are defined solely by fasting lipid levels, even though postprandial lipids may be more informative. In the postprandial state, circulating lipids consist of dietary fat transported from the intestine in chylomicrons (CMs; containing ApoB48) and fat transported from the liver in VLDL (containing ApoB100). Research into the roles of endogenous versus dietary fat has been hindered because of the difficulty in separating these particles by ultracentrifugation. CM fractions have considerable contamination from VLDL (purity, 10%). To separate CMs from VLDL, we produced polyclonal antibodies against ApoB100 and generated immunoaffinity columns. TRLs isolated by ultracentrifugation of plasma were applied to these columns, and highly purified CMs were collected (purity, 90-94%). Overall eight healthy unmedicated adult volunteers (BMI, 27.2 ± 1.4 kg/m²; fasting triacylglycerol, 102.6 ± 19.5 mg/dl) participated in a feeding study, which contained an oral stable-isotope tracer (1-¹³C acetate). We then used this technique on plasma samples freshly collected during an 8 h human feeding study from a subset of four subjects. We analyzed fractionated lipoproteins by Western blot, isolated and derivatized triacylglycerols, and calculated fractional de novo lipogenesis. The results demonstrated effective separation of postprandial lipoproteins and substantially improved purity compared with ultracentrifugation protocols, using the immunoaffinity method. This method can be used to better delineate the role of dietary sugar and fat on postprandial lipids in cardiovascular risk and explore the potential role of CM remnants in atherosclerosis.