Characterization of plasma lipoproteins in survivors of cerebral infarction.

To characterize the plasma lipoproteins in survivors of cerebral infarction, plasma lipoproteins were ultracentrifugally fractionated into VLDL, LDL, HDL2 and HDL3, and the concentrations of cholesterol, phospholipid, apolipoprotein and triglyceride in each lipoprotein class were determined. Subjects examined were 15 male healthy controls and 15 male survivors of cerebral infarction situated in the distribution of cerebral cortical artery. The concentrations of VLDL-cholesterol and VLDL-triglyceride and the percent content of VLDL-cholesterol were higher in survivors than in controls. The concentration of LDL-triglyceride was higher and the percent content of LDL-cholesterol was lower in survivors than in controls. While the plasma concentration of triglyceride was higher in survivors than in controls, those of HDL, HDL2 and HDL3 were lower in survivors. The concentrations of cholesterol, phospholipid and apolipoprotein in either HDL2 or HDL3 were also reduced in survivors as compared with controls. In either HDL2 or HDL3, the percent content of triglyceride was higher and that of phospholipid was lower in survivors than in controls. These results were in good agreement with those reported for survivors of myocardial infarction, suggesting that the underlying derangement in lipoprotein metabolism is common to myocardial and cerebral infarction.