[Physico-chemical and functional characteristics of a subfraction of low-density lipoproteins isolated by ion-exchange column chromatography].

Fractionation of human blood plasma low density lipoproteins (LDL) was performed by ion-exchange chromatography, using a linear NaCl gradient. It was shown that the binding of LDL subfractions eluted with a low ionic strength buffer (i.e., containing the particles with a lower negative charge) to B, E-receptors of fibroblasts was more effective than that of subfractions eluted with a high ionic strength buffer (i.e., containing the particles with a higher negative charge). The LDL particles with a lower negative charge had lower values of flotation coefficients (according to analytical ultracentrifugation data), smaller dimensions (according to gradient gel electrophoresis data) and a lower phospholipid/protein ratio (w/w). The experimental results suggest that LDL subfractions having different electrical parameters of the particle surface also differ in other physicochemical properties and seem to play a different role in atherogenesis.