Further evidence for the role of high density lipoprotein in the removal of tissue cholesterol in vivo.

The lipoproteins of human peripheral lymph and plasma were separated according to particle size by polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis. All samples of lymph contained lipoproteins that moved to the same positions on the gel as plasma LDL and plasma HDL. Some samples of lymph also contained lipoproteins with the mobility of VLDL and IDL. The lymph lipoproteins corresponding to plasma LDL reacted with anti-LDL serum and those corresponding to plasma HDL reacted with anti-HDL serum. In the lipoprotein fraction with the mobility of HDL, the proportion of particles larger than catalase was greater in lymph than in plasma. It is suggested that the shift in size distribution towards larger HDL particles in lymph compared with plasma is due to uptake of cholesterol from extravascular tissue by HDL particles after they have reached the interstitial fluid from the plasma, rather than to preferential movement of larger particles across the capillary walls.