The measurement of lipoprotein subfractions in plasma using a tabletop ultracentrifuge.

We adapted the ultracentrifugation method of the Lipid Research Clinics Program for the separation of lipid subfractions (LDL, VLDL and HDL cholesterol) to a tabletop ultracentrifuge (Beckman TL-100). Centrifugation time was reduced from 18 h to 2.5 h and the sample volume from 5 mL to 2 mL plasma. The imprecision of the LDL-cholesterol estimation (coefficient of variation = CV) was 2.9-7.4% and that of HDL-cholesterol measurement was 1.4-3.9%. Imprecision of the VLDL-C measurement was high (CV = 15.6-29.8%). The results correlated with those obtained by the Lipid Research Clinics method (P less than 0.001). Our method could be conveniently adapted by clinical laboratories serving specialist lipid clinics.