Effects of sucrose feeding and injection of lipid transfer protein on rat plasma lipoproteins.

Sucrose feeding increased rat plasma very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) triacylglycerol concentration and decreased the cholesterol level in high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Gel filtration chromatography cholesterol profiles of both normal-fed and sucrose-fed plasma lipoproteins showed a small peak of VLDL and a large peak of HDL. Injection of a partially purified human lipid transfer protein preparation into normal-fed rats did not alter the concentration of cholesterol in either VLDL or HDL to a great extent, but there was a disappearance of the larger HDL particles. Injection of lipid transfer protein into sucrose-fed rats resulted in an overall 35% reduction in the concentration of HDL cholesterol, a more dramatic loss of larger HDL particles and a slight decrease in the mean particle size of the major HDL population.