Characterization of plasma low density lipoproteins on nonhuman primates fed dietary cholesterol

LDL from animals of three nonhuman primate species, Macaca mulatta, Macaca fascicularis, and Cercopithecus aethiops, were studied. A standard preparation of 125I-LDL was added to isolated lipoprotein mixtures just prior to separation of plasma lipoproteins by agarose gel chromatography. A relative size index, rI, was determined by dividing the elution volume of the iodinated LDL by the elution volume of the sample LDL, both volumes being determined simultaneously during chromatographic elution. Comparison of rI with molecular weights measured by flotation equilibrium analysis in the analytical ultracentrifuge showed a linear relationship across a molecular weight range of 2.5-8.0 X 10(6), r = 0.985. A regression equation describing this relationship was used to calculate molecular weights of LDL from a group of M. fascicularis that were fed cholesterol-containing diets. In these animals, plasma cholesterol concentration ranged from 100 to over 700 mg/dl and was highly correlated with LDL molecular weight and with the micromolar concentration of the LDL. Using multiple regression analyses, the two variables of plasma LDL could be shown to account for 94% of the variation in plasma cholesterol concentration in the M. fascicularis of this study. Micromolar concentration and molecular weight of LDL were not correlated with each other, suggesting that in M. fascicularis at least two independent types of controls are operative in the response of plasma LDL to dietary cholesterol. The increase in LDL molecular weight was associated with a large increase in cholesteryl ester content and concomitant smaller increases in protein, phospholipid, and free cholesterol. As molecular weight increased, these components appeared to be added to the LDL particles together as discrete increments of fixed composition. The data are consistent with a spherical model of LDL structure with a core of cholesteryl ester and triglyceride and a 21.3 A-thick coat of phospholipid, free cholesterol, and protein.