Mann Ella, Kolusheva Sofiya, Yossef Rami, Porgador Angel, Aviram Michael, Jelinek Raz
Faculty of Natural Sciences, The Ilse Katz Institute, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Mol Diagn Ther. 2015 Feb;19(1):35-43. doi: 10.1007/s40291-014-0127-y.
Hypercholesterolemia (increased blood cholesterol level) is considered a major risk factor for developing atherosclerotic diseases. As such, alerting individuals on hypercholesterolemic conditions is a crucial component in averting onset of atherosclerosis and its outcome-cardiovascular diseases. While common diagnostic tools such as cholesterol and lipoproteins determination are widely employed for hypercholesterolemia screening, their effectiveness has been questioned since they do not shed light on critical physiological factors like lipid oxidation and inflammation levels, which constitute prominent determinants for development of atherosclerotic diseases. The objective of this study is to develop a simple assay for identifying hypercholesterolemia, and assessing the impact of therapeutic treatments.
We developed a diagnostic assay based upon color transformations of polydiacetylene, a unique conjugated polymer, upon interactions with blood plasma obtained from healthy individuals, hypercholesterolemic patients, hypercholesterolemic patients treated with statin, and hypercholesterolemic patients treated with statin together with pomegranate extracts. The color transformations of the polymer were monitored through desktop color scanning combined with colorimetric image analysis.
We show that the colorimetric assay was able to distinguish among plasma. Bio-analytical characterization reveals that the distinct colorimetric responses likely arise from interactions with plasma lipoproteins. Importantly, the colorimetric changes are not simply correlated with the relative abundance of cholesterol (or other lipids) in the plasma of hypercholesterolemic or healthy patients, but also reflect the presence of oxidized and inflamed species.
This paper introduces a simple color assay for detection of hypercholesterolemia and monitoring the effect of therapies directed at mitigating this physiological condition. The colorimetric system might constitute a novel platform for assessing patient vulnerability towards the development of atherosclerosis.
高胆固醇血症（血液胆固醇水平升高）被认为是引发动脉粥样硬化疾病的主要风险因素。因此，提醒个体注意高胆固醇血症状况是预防动脉粥样硬化及其后果——心血管疾病发生的关键环节。虽然诸如胆固醇和脂蛋白测定等常见诊断工具被广泛用于高胆固醇血症筛查，但由于它们无法揭示脂质氧化和炎症水平等关键生理因素，而这些因素是动脉粥样硬化疾病发展的重要决定因素，其有效性受到了质疑。本研究的目的是开发一种简单的检测方法来识别高胆固醇血症，并评估治疗措施的影响。
我们基于聚二乙炔（一种独特的共轭聚合物）与从健康个体、高胆固醇血症患者、接受他汀类药物治疗的高胆固醇血症患者以及接受他汀类药物和石榴提取物联合治疗的高胆固醇血症患者获得的血浆相互作用时的颜色变化，开发了一种诊断检测方法。通过台式颜色扫描结合比色图像分析来监测聚合物的颜色变化。
我们表明比色测定法能够区分不同的血浆。生物分析表征显示，不同的比色反应可能源于与血浆脂蛋白的相互作用。重要的是，比色变化不仅与高胆固醇血症或健康患者血浆中胆固醇（或其他脂质）的相对丰度相关，还反映了氧化和炎症物质的存在。
本文介绍了一种用于检测高胆固醇血症和监测针对缓解这种生理状况的治疗效果的简单颜色检测方法。比色系统可能构成一个评估患者发生动脉粥样硬化易感性的新平台。
