Structural and functional changes in high-density lipoprotein induced by chemical modification†
Abstract
Reconstituted high-density lipoprotein (rHDL), a natural nanoparticle consisting of apolipoprotein A-I and phospholipids, was modified with a hydrophobic fluorescent dye before (pre-rHDL) and after (post-rHDL) reconstitution. Pre-rHDL particles had a similar size to unmodified rHDL, but post-rHDL particles were significantly larger and their avidity for a HDL receptor was 2.6 times of that shown by pre-rHDL.