Serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol determination: a simple modification.

A simple modification to the method of Burnstein et al. (Burnstein, M., Scholnick, H.R. and Morfin, R. (1970) J. Lip. Res. 11, 583) [1] for the measurement of serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations is reported. The modification obviates the need for a refrigerated centrifuge and makes the method suitable for routine use in almost any laboratory. Good correlation was obtained for values in 80 healthy adults using the method as originally described by Burnstein et al. [1] and then with the modification. The presented method was linear and precise and the study showed that it was not necessary to fast before giving a blood sample for the assay. It was found that HDL cholesterols were higher in women than in men, but did not change significantly with age in either group.