Appearance of serum amyloid protein in high-density lipoproteins of rabbits subjected to relatively mild stimuli.

Relatively mild stimuli have been found to induce an appearance of the serum amyloid protein in the high-density lipoproteins (HDL) of rabbits. Large amounts of serum amyloid protein appeared in the HDL of rabbits, following intravenous infusions of the artificial triacylglycerol emulsion, Intralipid. Lesser, but still significant amounts of serum amyloid protein also appeared in rabbit HDL after intravenous infusions of sterile saline and even in non-infused rabbits that had been subjected to no more than serial blood sampling. Given that these latter procedures are necessary components of many metabolic experiments performed in vivo, the observation that they induce an appearance of serum amyloid protein in HDL has potentially major implications in terms of the interpretation of in vivo studies of HDL metabolism.