Human plasma LDL cryopreserved with sucrose maintains in vivo kinetics indistinguishable from freshly isolated human LDL in cynomolgus monkeys.

We previously reported that freeze-thawing of LDL causes marked alterations in its structure and in vitro biological behavior, and that such changes can be completely abolished by the addition of sucrose to the LDL solution prior to freezing. (Rumsey, S. C. et al., J. Lipid Res. 1992. 33: 1551-1561). We now questioned whether the cryopreservative action of sucrose would be equally effective in maintaining the in vivo metabolic characteristics of LDL. Two dual-label LDL turnover studies were performed in cynomolgus monkeys (n = 8) comparing freshly isolated human LDL with human LDL that was frozen in sucrose (10% w/v) for a short (20 h) or long period (6 months). The same sucrose-cryopreserved LDL was used for both the short- and long-term studies; different fresh LDL preparations were used in each study. Absorption spectrophotometry, gel filtration, and electron microscopy of LDL samples frozen with sucrose showed no evidence of physical alterations or aggregation, and there was no evidence of very rapid clearance of cryopreserved LDL from monkey plasma after injection. Fractional catabolic rates (FCR) of fresh and frozen LDL were very similar in either the short-term or long-term experiments: 2.09 +/- 0.86 versus 2.16 +/- 0.88, short-term and 3.03 +/- 2.28 versus 3.08 +/- 2.29, long-term (pools per day; mean +/- SD). The difference between FCR of fresh and frozen LDL for each animal averaged -0.076 +/- 0.074 and 0.01 +/- 0.22 (mean +/- SD), for short-term and long-term freezing, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)