Abstract 31: High-density Lipoprotein, a Feed-forward Forechecking Loop

Background: The protective effect of HDL is projected into the cholesterol back-transport of breakdown products of lipid metabolism to the liver. This is a feed-back circuit which controls cholesterol exit. Cholesterol entry could be safeguarded in a feed-forward forechecking loop at the proteoglycan (PG) receptor sites (syndecan, perlecan). HDL is the counter partner in the system of internalization and diffusion control for lipoprotein entry into the vascular wall. Based on stereochemical and chiral conformity with its PG receptor and the much higher negative charge density, HDL owns by far a higher affinity compared with LDL. Methods: Flow-dependent isometric tension, intracellularly recorded membrane potential and cAMP-cGMP were measured in segments of 25 coronaries from heart transplantations. Results and Discussion: Compared to Krebs solution, LDL (100 mg/dL) impaired flow-dilatation and caused a relative contraction by 18.5% (Table). In contrast, HDL (50 mg/dL) and HDL+LDL stimulated flow-dilatation by 31.1% and 41.4%, respectively (p Conclusion: LDL-cholesterol entry into the vascular wall is effectfully controlled by HDL in a feed-forward forechecking loop (HDL 4х higher affinity constant to the PG receptor). The interaction between both is dominated by competition.