LDL receptor studies in term and pre-term infants: Measurement of sterol synthesis in cord blood lymphocytes.

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor activity was measured in lymphocytes from pre-term and term infants in order to elucidate if the hypercholesterolemia found in pre-term infants might be secondary to a block in cholesterol transport across the cell membrane, analogous to that seen in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). LDL receptor activity was found to be fully developed in pre-term infants and no different from that of term infants and of a normal adult control.