FIGURE 1.

PCPE2 deficiency alters lipoprotein cholesterol and particle size. A, FPLC separation of the major lipoprotein classes expressed as cholesterol concentration from representative age- and gender-matched C57BL/6 and PCPE2^−/− mice on a chow-fed diet. B, a Coomassie Blue-stained 4–20% non-denaturing gradient gel separation of a d < 1.225 g/ml lipoprotein fraction from chow-fed C57BL/6 and PCPE2^−/− mice. C, top, the HDL composition as total cholesterol (TC) to apoA-I mass ratio for HDL after FPLC isolation for each genotype. Bottom, the mass ratio of esterified cholesterol (EC) to total cholesterol as determined by mass spectrometric analysis and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as described under “Experimental Procedures.” D, FPLC separation of the major lipoprotein classes expressed as cholesterol concentration from LDLr^−/− and LDLr^−/−, PCPE2^−/− mice fed a chow diet. E, FPLC separation of the major lipoprotein classes expressed as cholesterol concentration from 12 weeks atherogenic diet-fed LDLr^−/− and LDLr^−/−, PCPE2^−/− mice. Data shown are the mean of n = 6 male mice for each genotype condition. Different letters in D indicate statistical significance at p < 0.05.