Effect of Small Doses of Heparin in Increasing the Translucence of Plasma during Alimentary Lipemia

Heparin administered intravenously increases the translucence of plasma during alimentary lipemia. This apparently is solely a physical change. This article reports observations concerning this phenomenon in normal persons and atherosclerotic patients. For purposes of maximal sensitivity, exceedingly small amounts of heparin are used, and distinct differences between the normal and the atherosclerotic individuals are noted, with the atherosclerotic failing to clear well on the same empiric dose of heparin as the normal persons. An unexpected observation was that the normal men developed a significantly greater degree of lipemia than did normal women after ingestion of the same fat meal.