THE LIPOPROTEIN COMPOSITION OF PLASMA AND ASCITIC FLUID IN LIVER-CIRRHOSIS

Lipoprotein particles were examined in plasma and ascitic fluid from n ine patients (5 males and 4 females) with liver cirrhosis and in plasm a from nine control subjects. LDL and HDL fractions were isolated by u ltracentrifugation under rate flotation conditions in a zonal rotor. L DL size was analysed by non-denaturing polyacrylamide gradient gel ele ctrophoresis. Plasma lipids in cirrhotic patients were markedly reduce d compared to controls. Free cholesterol represented 45.3% of the tota l cholesterol in plasma and 70.4% of the total cholesterol in the asci tic fluid. The total cholesterol-triglyceride ratio was three times hi gher in the plasma than in the ascitic fluid of cirrhotic patients. Th e LDL particles had the same flotation properties in plasma from cirrh otic patients as in that from controls. In cirrhotic patients the IDL concentration was higher than that in controls. In ascitic fluid the L DL particles had a higher flotation rate than in the plasma. The LDL d iameter as measured by gradient gel electrophoresis was similar in bot h plasma and ascitic fluid of the cirrhotic patients as well as in the plasma of controls. In plasma and ascitic fluid of cirrhotic patients only a single HDL subclass (HDL(1)) could be identified. HDL(1) parti cles had a higher flotation rate than normal HDL particles. The plasma levels of all the apoproteins were reduced in cirrhotic subjects comp ared to controls, but to a variable degree; while apo CII level in cir rhosis represented only 9% of the control level, the apo E level repre sented 77% of the control level. Lipoprotein particles from the plasma of patients with liver cirrhosis differed in several respects not onl y from normal particles but also from particles isolated from ascitic fluid in the same patient. These differences may prove useful for impr oving our understanding of normal lipoprotein metabolism and of the me chanisms involved in ascitic fluid formation.