Evaluation of the polyethylene glycol precipitation method for the estimation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Treatment of fresh sera with polyethylene glycol 6000 at a final concentration of 100 g/l produced selective precipitation of low-density lipoproteins with only traces of contamination with high-density lipoproteins, as determined by electroimmunoassay using antisera to human alpha1-lipoprotein and human beta-lipoprotein. Supernatants collected for high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol estimation were free from low-density lipoproteins. Precipitates sedimented readily from specimens with high triglyceride contents, and secondary precipitation during enzymatic cholesterol determinations was absent. Values obtained by this method correlated well with those obtained by precipitation of low-density lipoproteins with heparin and manganous ions at concentrations optimal for discrete of lipoprotein classes (r = 0.975; p less than 0.001).