Fig. 1.

Native gel electrophoresis of isolated HDL after short- and long-term storage. HDL was isolated from serum from four healthy donors by density gradient ultracentrifugation and kept at 4, −20, or −70°C for up to 100 weeks. Aliquots were analyzed by native gel electrophoresis at different time points and stained with Coomassie brilliant blue for protein (left panel) or with Sudan black B for lipids (right panel). The dashed lines indicate the typical size range of HDL₂ and HDL₃ ranging from about 8 to 12 nm. HDL samples shown were from one gel, but were not directly adjacent to each other and, therefore, have been cut and assembled for illustration. Each storage experiment was repeated three times and results from one representative experiment are shown.