Human serum/plasma lipoprotein analysis by NMR: Application to the study of diabetic dyslipidemia

NMR spectroscopy is the only technique that allows a full lipoprotein subfraction analysis of serum/plasma samples. The calibration and validation procedures used to set up new NMR methods rely on the correlations made between the NMR spectra and the lipids measured in a particular set of subfractions, all isolated by ultracentrifugation. Diffusion NMR spectroscopy can provide a direct measure of lipoprotein radii by using the diffusion coefficient and applying the Einstein Stokes equation. Nevertheless, the determination of the serum/plasma viscosity parameter in the formula is not straightforward. Many studies use NMR spectroscopy to characterize diabetic dyslipidemias. The number and size of the particles in the lipoprotein fractions provided by this technique have played an essential role in obtaining insight into this complex metabolic disease. Each NMR spectrum from a serum/plasma sample contains a wealth of information about lipoproteins.