Effect of sialic acid removal on human low density lipoprotein catabolism in vivo.

This study was undertaken to determine whether sialic acid removal alters the catabolism of low density lipoprotein in humans. Human low density lipoproteins labeled in vitro with 125I were incubated in the presence (termed desialylated) or absence (sialylated) of neuraminidase. The treatment with neuraminidase from Clostridium perfringens removed 90% of the sialic acid residues which did not change the chemical composition of the lipoproteins. Sialylated or desialylated LDL were injected intravenously into normal human subjects. The mathematical analysis of the plasma radioactivity decay curves (followed for 220 h) of desialylated low density lipoproteins, when compared with sialylated LDL, showed a shorter mean transit time (51 h vs 60 h), a 52% faster metabolic catabolic rate and an increased volume of distribution. The data are consistent with a proposed metabolism of low density lipoproteins: in humans, desialylation appears to accelerate the first step of the low density lipoprotein conversion but not to alter its final catabolism.