Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Ann Clin Biochem. 2013 Nov;50(Pt 6):564-70. doi: 10.1177/0004563213481586. Epub 2013 Jul 30.
The size of lipoprotein particles is relevant to the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD).
We investigated the feasibility of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for evaluating the size of large low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and small dense LDL (sd-LDL) separated by ultracentrifugation. The measurements by AFM in tapping mode were compared to those by electron microscopy (EM).
There was a significant difference in particle sizes determined by AFM between large LDL (20.6 ± 1.9 nm, mean ± SD) and sd-LDL (16.2 ± 1.4 nm) obtained from six healthy volunteers (P < 0.05). The particle sizes determined by EM for the same samples were 23.2 ± 1.4 nm for large LDL and 20.4 ± 1.4 nm for sd-LDL. The difference between large LDL and sd-LDL detected by EM was also statistically significant (P < 0.05). In addition, the particle sizes of each lipoprotein fraction were significantly different between AFM and EM: P < 0.05 for large LDL and P < 0.05 for sd-LDL.
AFM can differentiate between sd-LDL and large LDL particles by their size, and might be useful for evaluating risk for CAD.
脂蛋白颗粒的大小与冠心病（CAD）的风险相关。
我们研究了原子力显微镜（AFM）评估超速离心分离的大密度脂蛋白（LDL）和小而密的 LDL（sd-LDL）大小的可行性。通过敲击模式的 AFM 测量与电子显微镜（EM）进行了比较。
从六位健康志愿者中获得的大 LDL（20.6±1.9nm，平均值±标准差）和 sd-LDL（16.2±1.4nm）之间，AFM 确定的颗粒大小存在显著差异（P<0.05）。对于相同的样本，EM 确定的颗粒大小为大 LDL 为 23.2±1.4nm，sd-LDL 为 20.4±1.4nm。EM 检测到大 LDL 和 sd-LDL 之间的差异也具有统计学意义（P<0.05）。此外，AFM 和 EM 之间每个脂蛋白部分的颗粒大小均有显著差异：大 LDL（P<0.05）和 sd-LDL（P<0.05）。
AFM 可以通过大小区分 sd-LDL 和大 LDL 颗粒，可能有助于评估 CAD 的风险。
