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From the Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, and the Division of Clinical Epidemiology (S.M.H.), Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Tex.
Correspondence to David L. Rainwater, PhD, Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, PO Box 28147, San Antonio, TX 78228-0147.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: electrophoresis lipoproteins, low-density apolipoproteins lipoproteins, high-density diabetes
| Introduction |
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A similar atherogenic lipoprotein profile is observed in insulin resistance syndrome,19 or syndrome X.20 Insulin resistance syndrome also features a host of other coronary heart disease risk factors, such as hypertension, obesity, body-fat distribution, and glucose tolerance. LDL from diabetic patients shows increased heterogeneity with a tendency toward smaller, B-pattern particles.17 18 21 22 The accumulation of B-pattern particles in diabetic subjects may be dependent on underlying changes in triglyceride metabolism.6 21 22 In addition, HDL levels and particle sizes are reduced in diabetic patients,23 24 which also may be related to elevated triglyceride concentrations.25
In the present study, we developed a method for casting nondenaturing polyacrylamide gradient gels that enabled us to compare LDL particles and other lipoprotein measures in diabetic and nondiabetic Mexican Americans matched for age and sex.
| Methods |
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Chemical Analyses
In fasted samples and in those taken after glucose
administration, we measured the concentrations of glucose by use of an
Abbott V/P Analyzer and insulin by use of
radioimmunoassay-based kits (Diagnostic Products
Corp). The remaining traits were measured only in the fasting plasma
samples. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride
concentrations were determined by commercially available
enzyme-based assays (Boehringer Mannheim and Stanbio) with
the use of a Gilford SBA-300 clinical chemistry analyzer. The
dextran sulfateMg2+ precipitation
procedure28 was used to precipitate apoB-containing
lipoproteins before quantifying HDL-C; nonHDL-C was calculated as the
difference between total cholesterol and HDL-C
concentrations. The interassay coefficients of variation for control
products in these assays were 1.7% for cholesterol,
6.6% for HDL-C, and 3.2% for triglycerides.
Apolipoprotein concentrations were measured in a commercial laboratory
(Medical Research Laboratories). ApoAI and apoB concentrations were
determined by nephelometry.29 30 31 ApoE and apoAII
concentrations were determined using competitive
immunoassays.32 33 The interassay coefficients of
variation for control products in these assays were 3.5% for
apoAI, 4.4% for apoAII, 2.9% for apoB, and 8.1% for apoE.
Making LDL Gels
Nondenaturing 3% to 18% polyacrylamide gradient gels
(LDL gels) were cast on the basis of a modification of published
protocols.34 Table 1
gives the
characteristics of the 3% to 18% gel gradient.
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The stock solutions, which were made up in TBE buffer ([in mmol/L] Tris 90, boric acid 81.5, disodium EDTA 2.5 [pH 8.35]), included the following (in g/L): solution 1: acrylamide 172.8, bis-acrylamide (N-N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide) 7.2 (18% total, 4.0% cross-linker), and sucrose 50 (all from Bio-Rad Laboratories) and solution 2: acrylamide 28.8 and bis-acrylamide 1.2 (3% total, 4% cross-linker). After these solutions were filtered through a sintered glass funnel, they were stored at room temperature and used within 1 month. The high-limit solution was made immediately before the gradient was cast and contained 1 vol solution 1, 0.0015 vol freshly prepared ammonium persulfate (100 g/L; Bio-Rad), and 0.00025 vol 3-dimethylaminopropionitrile (Sigma Chemical Co). The low-limit solution was also made immediately before the gradient was cast and contained 1 vol solution 2, 0.0046 vol ammonium persulfate, and 0.00066 vol 3-dimethylaminopropionitrile. The gradient was generated with a Wiz dual-pump gradient controller system (Isco), mixed in an external mixing chamber, and cast into a GSC-8 gel slab casting apparatus (Pharmacia) as described.34
Gradient Gel Electrophoresis
The gels were prerun in TBE buffer at 120 V for 20 minutes with
a GE-2/4 electrophoretic chamber (Pharmacia). Samples were made dense
with sucrose, and a volume that contained 4 µL plasma was loaded on
the gels. Each gel was calibrated by use of the following: (1)
Pharmacia high-molecular-weight standards containing
thyroglobulin (17.0-nm diameter) and several other proteins not used
for calibration, including ferritin, catalase, and lactate
dehydrogenase; (2) carboxylated latex microspheres (38 nm, Duke
Scientific); and (3) two bands of LDL in a lyophilized plasma sample,
with diameters of 27.5 nm and 26.6 nm. Diameters of the two LDL bands
in the standard were estimated by P.J. Blanche, Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif, using data from 20 different gels that
were calibrated with standards 1 and 2 above and the locations of three
consistently occurring bands of ß-lipoproteins in a
plasma lipoprotein standard used in their laboratory (unpublished data,
1994). Electrophoresis was initiated by applying voltage to the chamber
in the following sequence: 15 V for 15 minutes, 70 V for 20 minutes,
and 125 V for 24 hours (3000 V · h). After electrophoresis was
completed, the gels were presoaked in 50% ethylene glycol monoethyl
ether solution (Cellosolve, Sigma) for 1 hour, stained overnight (16
hours) with 11.0 g/L Sudan black B (Sigma) in 50% ethylene glycol
monoethyl ether, and then destained with multiple changes of 50%
ethylene glycol monoethyl ether for a total of approximately 8
hours.35 Because the molecular-weight standard
proteins do not stain with Sudan black B, Coomassie brilliant blue
R-250 (Sigma) was used to stain the lower part of the gel containing
these proteins, and gels were destained in 50% methanol, 10% acetic
acid, and 40% water.36 After destaining was completed,
gels were soaked in the TBE buffer to restore gel size and shape before
scanning.
Densitometry and LDL Phenotyping
The gels were subjected to densitometric scanning at 632.8 nm
with an LKB-Ultroscan XL laser densitometer with GELSCAN XL
software. Gels were calibrated for size using the migration distance
(Rf) of each standard relative to thyroglobulin; a
quadratic equation in relative migration distance was fit to the
natural logarithms of the diameters of the standards:
ln(diameter)=C0+C1Rf+C2
Rf2, where C0,
C1, and C2 are the calibration
coefficients.37 We developed a computer program in house
that automatically calibrated each gel, subtracted the baseline, and
calculated particle diameter for the predominant peak in each sample
lane. In addition, the program determined fractional absorbance for
Sudan black Bstained LDL particles in five size
intervals9 : LDL-I (26.4 to 29.0 nm), LDL-II (25.5 to 26.4
nm), LDL-III (24.2 to 25.5 nm), LDL-IV A (23.2 to 24.2 nm), and LDL-IV
B (21.0 to 23.2 nm). For analyses, however, we summed
fractional absorbances for LDL particles larger than 25.5 nm, and these
are called large LDL cholesterol (LDL-C). Most samples were
assayed twice; repeatability for the estimate of particle diameter was
92.7% (n=163) and of large LDL-C was 71.1% (n=114).
HDL Size Phenotypes
HDL size phenotypes were measured as described
before.38 Briefly, lipoproteins in plasma were separated
on the basis of size with nondenaturing 3% to 31%
polyacrylamide gradient gels.34 To detect size
distributions of apoAI, we transferred proteins to nitrocellulose paper
electrophoretically, and we used immunoblotting
procedures with a radioiodinated secondary antibody to
measure the distributions of apoAI.38 39 Locations of
radioactivity were detected by use of
autoradiography and quantified by use of
densitometry with an LKB-Ultroscan laser densitometer with
GSXL software. The distributions of cholesteryl esters
among the HDL subclasses were detected by staining with Sudan black B
and measured by densitometry.40 41 HDL absorbance profiles
were analyzed by fitting curves representing the
generally accepted HDL subclasses, as suggested
previously.42 Curves were fit to HDL3c (7.2 to
7.7 nm), HDL3b (7.8 to 8.2 nm), HDL3a (8.2 to
8.8 nm), HDL2a (8.8 to 9.7 nm),
HDL2b (9.7 to 12.9 nm), and HDL1 (ie,
HDL particles larger than 12.9 nm). The component curves gave a summed
absorbance profile that very closely matched each observed absorbance
profile; the average correlation coefficient value,
r2, was .9977 (SD, ±.0016; n=186)
for apoAI and .9891 (SD, ±.0191; n=188) for cholesteryl esters. The
fractional absorbances for HDL1,
HDL2b, and HDL2a were
summed to calculate the percent of apoAI or cholesteryl esters on HDL
particles larger than those of HDL3, and they are called
large HDL-apoAI and large HDL-C, respectively.
Statistical Methods
Statistical procedures were conducted using a software package
(Manugistics). To reduce skewness, apoE and triglyceride
concentrations were transformed to their natural logarithms before
analyses.
| Results |
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Effects of Diabetes on LDL Size Measures
Table 3
shows significant differences (by paired
t test) between the two groups for two measures of LDL size.
Diabetic individuals had smaller particles (mean, 25.8 nm) and
relatively less stain in particles larger than 25.5 nm (mean, 58.6%)
than did the age- and sex-matched nondiabetic individuals (means
were 26.2 nm and 67.7%, respectively). Fig 1
shows
frequency histograms of LDL peak diameters for the nondiabetic and
diabetic groups, and Fig 2
shows the effect of diabetes
on fractional distributions of cholesteryl esters among
size-resolved LDL subfractions. When LDL particles from male and
female subjects were analyzed separately, the trends were the
same, but there was a significant effect of diabetes only for female
subjects (Table 3
).
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Effects of Diabetes on HDL Size Measures
HDL size phenotypes were estimated as the percent of stain
in HDL particles larger than HDL3. Diabetic individuals
tended to have a smaller proportion of apoAI (39.1%) and of
cholesteryl esters (44.8%) in the larger particles than did
nondiabetic individuals (42.3% and 46.0%, respectively). This was a
significant difference (P=.003) only for the
anti-apoAIstained particles (Table 3
). Fig 3
presents the effect of diabetes on mean
distributions of apoAI among HDL size classes for nondiabetic and
diabetic subjects. There remained a significant effect of diabetes on
apoAI distributions, but not cholesteryl ester distributions, when
tested in female and male subjects separately (Table 3
).
Thus, diabetes was associated with relatively smaller HDL and LDL
particles.
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Intercorrelation of Lipoprotein Size Measures
Table 4
presents univariate
correlations of lipoprotein measures, both of concentration and of
size, for the four size measures. All but six were significantly
correlated at the P<.001 level. The lipoprotein
concentration measures showed patterns of correlation that were similar
for each of the size measures. Concentration measures of
ß-lipoproteins were negatively correlated with the four size
measures. In each case, triglycerides were the strongest
correlate, followed in general by apoE, apoB, and nonHDL-C.
Concentration measures of HDL were positively correlated with the four
size measures. In each case, HDL-C was the strongest correlate,
followed by apoAI; apoAII concentrations were not significantly
correlated with any of the size measures in the univariate
analyses. The lipoprotein size variables were strongly
intercorrelated (Table 4
). Although correlations were
stronger for the two measures of LDL and the two measures of HDL, all
correlations were positive and significant. The pattern of the
correlations in Table 4
was almost exactly repeated, in terms of sign
and rank order, in the two subsets of diabetic and nondiabetic
individuals (data not shown).
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Independent Effects of Diabetes on Lipoprotein Size
Measures
We used stepwise regression analyses to select lipoprotein
concentration measures that were significantly correlated with each of
the lipoprotein size variables. Multiple regression
analyses that included the effects of the significant
correlates showed diabetes had a modest (P=.027) effect on
the proportion of larger HDL particles stained for apoAI. However,
diabetes had no independent effect on any of the other lipoprotein size
variables after adjustment for the effects of correlated
lipoprotein concentration measures (Table 5
).
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| Discussion |
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Different sizes of LDL have been resolved with the application of gradient gel electrophoresis.2 6 We adapted published protocols for casting nondenaturing gradient gels to separate on the basis of size LDL particles in plasma samples. We found that diabetic subjects had significantly smaller dominant LDL peak diameters as analyzed by paired t test as well as by ANOVA. Similarly, diabetic subjects had a lower fraction of cholesteryl esters in LDL particles larger than 25.5 nm. When each sex was considered separately, diabetic subjects had relatively smaller particles and less large LDL-C than nondiabetic subjects, although the differences were significant only for female subjects. In their population-based study, Haffner et al16 reported a greater effect of diabetes on LDL size in women than men. Although in general women are at lower risk for cardiovascular disease than men, it has been demonstrated in some studies43 45 that women are prone to a greater incidence of cardiovascular disease associated with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, suggesting a greater adverse influence of diabetes on lipoproteins in women.46
Diabetes is marked by characteristic alterations in lipoprotein levels, including an elevation of triglycerides and VLDL and a decreased HDL concentration.47 In addition, it appears that small and dense LDL subclass patterns are more common in diabetic patients, as seen in the present study and other studies.16 21 22 48 49 This observation is important because of the association of smaller LDL particles and the LDL subclass pattern B phenotype with increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.4 Abbott et al50 demonstrated that abnormalities in lipoproteins have a physiological link with the action of insulin. Alterations in the action and concentrations of insulin play a crucial role in the regulation of lipoprotein metabolism in noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Barakat et al22 demonstrated a correlation of both insulin and triglyceride concentrations with LDL particle size. They reported that with a decrease in the levels of plasma insulin and triglyceride, LDL particle sizes may revert to the normal state, suggesting that such a change might contribute to a reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Haffner et al51 and Ferrannini et al52 provided evidence that the contributions of compensatory hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are a major cause of diabetic dyslipidemia. Yet to be resolved are the mechanisms that modify LDL size distribution phenotype in diabetic patients. A possible explanation is that the small, dense LDL results directly from the remodeling of certain VLDL subfractions and are genetically determined.5 53 The actions of lipid transfer proteins may be another possibility.54 55 56 Facilitated transfer of triglycerides into LDL might take place in the event of hypertriglyceridemia; the subsequent hydrolysis of triglycerides, probably by hepatic lipase,57 may give rise to smaller and denser LDL particles.
In addition to differences in LDL particle sizes, we found that diabetic individuals tended to have a smaller proportion of large HDL particles stained for apoAI (ie, larger than HDL3) than did nondiabetic subjects. Although the proportion of large HDL-C was lower in diabetic than nondiabetic subjects, the difference was not significant. This result suggests compositional differences among HDL size subfractions and is consistent with the findings of Taylor et al58 and Joven et al.59 All the lipoprotein size measures in the present study were significantly and positively intercorrelated, confirming a previous observation.38 The lipoprotein size measures also were negatively correlated with measures of ß-lipoprotein concentrations and positively correlated with measures of HDL concentrations. These extensive intercorrelations suggest that the different measures reflect common metabolic processes. To determine whether diabetes had a specific effect on lipoprotein size, we first identified by stepwise regression analysis all the lipoprotein concentration correlates for each of the four measures of particle size. These correlates were then incorporated into multiple regression models to test whether diabetes had a significant effect on particle size after adjustment for the metabolic correlates. We found diabetes had no significant effect on any LDL measure and only a modest (P=.027) effect on HDL size as shown by staining for apoAI. Therefore, although we detected dramatic effects of diabetes on several measures of lipoprotein sizes, the data suggest the effects are on general metabolic processes rather than being specific to particle size.
Several mechanisms may be involved in determining the lipoprotein profile of a diabetic patient. An understanding of how a variation in genes affects the expression of characteristic lipoprotein abnormalities in diabetes is just beginning to evolve. Meanwhile, it is reasonable to believe that mechanisms such as variations in the genes coding for apolipoproteins or for the enzymes involved in lipolytic processes may mediate abnormalities in the metabolism of lipoproteins in the diabetic patient.
| Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received June 13, 1995; accepted August 25, 1995.
| References |
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