Premium
Sensitive Morphological Characterization of Oriented High‐Density Lipoprotein Nanoparticles Using 31 P NMR Spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Lau Sophie,
Middleton David A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202004130
Subject(s) - morphology (biology) , transmission electron microscopy , high density lipoprotein , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , lipoprotein , chemistry , nanoparticle , cholesterol , apolipoprotein b , characterization (materials science) , spectroscopy , nmr spectra database , crystallography , biophysics , materials science , nanotechnology , biochemistry , biology , spectral line , stereochemistry , genetics , physics , quantum mechanics , astronomy
The biological function of high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) nanoparticles, the so‐called good cholesterol that is associated with a low risk of heart disease, depends on their composition, morphology, and size. The morphology of HDL particles composed of apolipoproteins, lipids and cholesterol is routinely visualised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but higher‐resolution tools are needed to observe more subtle structural differences between particles of different composition. Here, reconstituted HDL formulations are oriented on glass substrates and solid‐state 31 P NMR spectroscopy is shown to be highly sensitive to the surface curvature of the lipid headgroups. The spectra report potentially functionally important differences in the morphology of different HDL preparations that are not detected by TEM. This method provides new morphological insights into HDL comprising a naturally occurring apolipoprotein A‐I mutant, which may be linked to its atheroprotective properties, and holds promise as a future research tool in the clinical analysis of plasma HDL.