Serum lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

The lipoproteins of rats fed a high sucrose diet and made diabetic by administration of 45 mg/kg of streptozotocin were studied. All lipoprotein classes were found to be present in increased concentrations. The apolipoprotein composition of the various lipoprotein fractions was studied by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of 8 M urea, isoelectric focusing in the presence of 8 M urea, and sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels. In the very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) of diabetic rats, there was a marked alteration in the relative amounts of C proteins by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, and this was found by isoelectric focusing to be primarily a relative increase in C-III-3 apoprotein and a decrease in C-III-O. In addition, in the diabetic rats, the VLDL contained a protein of mol wt 46,000, the A-IV protein, which normally is only present in the high density lipoproteins. In the high density lipoproteins, (HDL) the same alterations in pattern of the C proteins seen in the VLDL were present. Furthermore, the arginine-rich and A-IV protein normally present in HDL could not be detected in the HDL, although the other apolipoproteins are present. Apolipoprotein concentrations were determined by quantitative immunoelectrophoresis. It was found that in the diabetic rats there was an increase in the total amount of apo-B in the plasma, with the increment divided proportionately between the VLDL and the low density lipoprotein (LDL). The total apo-C concentration of plasma increased minimally. The A-IV concentration of plasma increased by 27%; it decreased markedly in the HDL, but appeared in increased amounts in both VLDL and in the d greater than 1.21 fraction. The arginine-rich protein decreased by 63% in the plasma and decreased significantly in the HDL, but increased in VLDL, LDL, and in the d greater than 1.21 fraction. These alterations in apolipoprotein patterns in diabetic animals suggest that the apolipoproteins may play an important role in determining the concentration of various lipoprotein fractions, or may be the result of altered metabolism of the lipoproteins. These lipoproteins with altered apolipoprotein composition may have important biologic differences from normal lipoporteins. Nevertheless, the HDL, despite the fact that it is deficient in some of its major constituents, was unchanged in its cholesterol content.