ELSEVIER Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1300 (1996) 73-85 Biochi~ic~a et Biophysica ACta Review Pre-fl HDL: structure and metabolism Alain Barrans, Beatrice Jaspard, Ronald Barbaras, Hugues Chap, Bertrand Perret, Xavier Collet * Institut National de la Sant~ et de la Recherche M~dicale, Unit~ 326, Phospholipides membranai~ es, Signalisation cellulaire et Lipoprot~ines, H~pital Purpan, 31059, Toulouse Cedex, France Received 21 August 1995; revised 9 November 1995; accepted 29 November 1995 Keywords: High density lipoprotein; Pre-fl HDL; Ape A-I; Reverse cholesterol transport Contents Introduction .................................................... 74 1.1. Historical .................................................. 74 1.2. Definition .................................................. 74 2. Identification ................................................... 75 2.1. Plasma .................................................... 75 2.2. Extra-vascular fluids ............................................. 76 3. 4. Physico-chemical properties ........................................... 76 3.1. Apparent molecular mass, size, shape and density ............................. 76 3.2. Chemical composition ............................................ 77 3.3. Conformation and charge of pre-fl HDL apoprotein A-I .......................... 77 3.4. Stability of pre-/3 HDL ........................................... 78 Multiple origins .................................................. 78 4.1. Pre-flj HDL: intra or extracellular assembly ................................ 78 4.2. Interconversion of HDL ........................................... 80 5. Physiological role ................................................. 81 5.1. Pre-/3 HDL: the earliest acceptors of cellular cholesterol ......................... 81 5.2. Maturation of pre-/3 HDL subfractions ................................... 82 5.3. Absence of cholesterol transfer between LDL and pre-/3 HDL ...................... 82 6. Physiopathology ................................................. 82 7. Concluding remarks ....... . ........................................ 83 Acknowledgements .................................................. 83 References ...................................................... 83 Abbreviations: Apo A-I, apolipoprotein A-I; HDL, high density lipoprotein; VHDL, very high density lipoprotein; CETP, cholesteryl ester transfer protein; LCAT, lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase; PLTP, phospholipid transfer protein; FC, free cholesterol; EC, esterified cholesterol. * CorreSponding author. Fax: + 33 61 779400; e-mail: collet@cict.fr. 0005-2760/96/$15.00 © 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0005-2760(95)00236-7