Association of structural glycoproteins with lipids or lipoproteins.

Gradient density ultracentrifugation was used to assess the lipid binding of 125I-labelled structural glycoproteins and standard proteins. The results show that solubilized structural glycoproteins from cartilage or aorta will associate spontaneously with lipids or lipoproteins. In addition, structural glycoprotein preparations from tissues which have not been delipidated contain a fraction which is already associated with lipid. Standard proteins do not behave in the same way. It is proposed that structural glycoprotein-lipid binding may be one of the mechanisms involved in the intercellular deposition of plasma lipoproteins in atherosclerotic arteries.