Lipoprotein Abnormalities in Cholestasis I. Electro-phoretic and Ultracentrifugal Analyses

The alterations of lipid composition in sera of patients with liver diseases, particularly intrahepatic cholestasis and biliary obstruction, were studied by ultracentrifugation and polyacrylamide-gel disc-electrophoresis of lipoproteins and apoproteins. The elevation of serum cholesterol in intrahepatic cholestasis was greater than in biliary obstruction. The appearance of lipoprotein X in obstructive disease accounted for most of the increased cholesterol. The level of non-lipoprotein X cholesterol in intrahepatic cholestasis was significantly elevated, this being in part ascribed to the appearance of a new class of cholestatic lipoprotein, Slow-migrating HDL. The electrophoretic pattern of lipoprotein in cholestasis was generally characterized by a decrease in alpha band intensity and, in some types of cholestasis, by the appearance of Slow-migrating HDL. In addition, other abnormal lipoproteins exhibiting the characteristics of triglyceride-rich LDL (LP-Y), LP-X-like HDL and LDL-like HDL were found in some cases of intrahepatic cholestasis and biliary obstruction.