TY - JOUR

T1 - Sensitive morphological characterization of oriented high‐density lipoprotein nanoparticles using 31P NMR spectroscopy

AU - Lau, Sophie

AU - Middleton, David

PY - 2020/10/5

Y1 - 2020/10/5

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - apolipoprotein A-I

KW - lipoproteins

KW - nanoparticles

KW - NMR spectroscopy

KW - structural biology

U2 - 10.1002/anie.202004130

DO - 10.1002/anie.202004130

M3 - Journal article

VL - 59

SP - 18126

EP - 18130

JO - Angewandte Chemie International Edition

JF - Angewandte Chemie International Edition

SN - 1433-7851

IS - 41

ER -