Calculation factors and reference values for quantitative lipoprotein electrophoresis in childhood.

Agarose gel electrophoresis of lipoproteins combined with quantitative densitometry (Lipidophor) and total cholesterol determination enables the calculation of alpha-, pre-beta-and beta cholesterol. This method is quick, precise and requires less than 100 microliters serum. The calculation factors originally derived from adults were re-evaluated and corrected for children. This was achieved by iterative calculation of the results obtained by quantitative densitometry and by enzymatic determination of the cholesterol contents in electrophoretically separated lipoprotein bands. Thus, calculation factors for children were obtained, which were used for the evaluation of reference values for alpha-, pre-beta- and beta-cholesterol and for the beta/alpha-lipoprotein ratio based on a reference group of 575 healthy children of 5-18 years of age.