Rapid Electrophoretic Separation of Pre-ß-Migrating High Density Lipoproteins Using Automated PhastSystem(tm): Application to Analysis of Lecitihin: Cholesterol Acyltransferase-Deficient Plasma

Abstract To identify pre-β-high density lipoproteins, a rapid two-dimensional separation by electrophoresis (1 hour 30 minutes) was performed on an automated Phast System™. This procedure used commercially available polyacrylamide gradient gels (4–15 %) and allows sensitive and reproducible results. Pre-β-1- and pre-β-2-high density lipoproteins were clearly identified by this method. In addition, our procedure was successfully applied to diagnosis of a patient with familial lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency, characterized by the absence of α-high density lipoproteins.