Materials and Methods

A method is described for making lipoprotein frac-tions visible by polyanion precipitation in situ in the gels after electrophoresis. With the new technique the pattern and its interpretation in the differential diagnosis of all primary forms of hyperlipoprotein-emia is the same as for the other lipid-staining pro-cedures. The new technique is simpler to perform, reliable, and provides the required information 60 mm after electrophoresis. It also allows a very fast determination of the abnormal lipoprotein (LP-X) that characterizes cholestasis, without use of a spe-cific antiserum. Additional Keyphrases: electrophoresis in agarose, in agar gel, in polyacrylamide #{149}serum lipoprotein pattern hyperlipoproteinemia #{149}Ca-dextran sulfate as iipo-protein precipitant #{149}immunodiffusion #{149}LP-X #{149}diag-nosis of cholestasis In addition to measurements of serum total choles-terol and serum triglycerides, assessment of the serum lipoprotein pattern is necessary for the diagnosis of the various types of hyperlipoproteinemia. Conse-quently, simple but reliable techniques are needed to identify and, in particular cases, to quantitate normal and abnormal lipoprotein fractions. Lipoprotein elec-trophoresis combined with ultracentrifugation and immunological techniques have been proved useful in assessing the lipoprotein pattern. However, such techniques are very time-consuming and are too la-borious and expensive for routine use in many labora-tories. The purpose of this series is to describe improved methods that are practicable for every laboratory and that provide all the information needed to evaluate a lipoprotein pattern. Here, we present a fast and simple technique for making lipoprotein bands visible, including the ab-normal lipoprotein (LP-X) characteristic of chole-stasis, by polyanion precipitation in gels after electro-phoresis