Rates of cholesterol esterification and esterified cholesterol net mass transfer between high‐density lipoproteins and apolipoprotein B‐containing lipoproteins in Type 1 diabetes

AbstractAims Type 1 diabetes is associated with a high incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite paradoxically normal or high high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations. Triglyceride (TG) concentrations have been shown to be important determinants of two aspects of HDL metabolism: cholesterol esterification rate and esterified cholesterol (EC) net mass transfer rate between HDL and the apolipoprotein B‐containing lipoproteins. In order to try to explain the paradox, we aimed to assess the relationships between plasma TG and these two processes in Type 1 diabetic compared with non‐diabetic subjects.Methods Rates of cholesterol esterification and EC net mass transfer between HDL and the apolipoprotein B‐containing lipoproteins were assessed by incubating whole plasma at 37°C; intra‐assay coefficients of variation were 6% and 30%, respectively.Results Ten Type 1 diabetic and 10 non‐diabetic subjects, with similar ages, sex distributions, body mass indices and total cholesterol and TG concentrations, were assessed. Apolipoprotein A1, HDL unesterified cholesterol, and HDL phospholipid concentrations were greater in the Type 1 diabetic subjects. There were no signi