Figure 9.

Impact of the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) on the uptake of Lp(a) into different organs. Lp(a) was treated with neuraminidase to transform it into asialo-Lp(a), labelled with I¹²⁵ and injected into wild-type mice or transgenic mice lacking the ASGPR (ASGPR-). After 4 h, mice were sacrificed, and the radioactivity found in different organs was measured. Asialo-Lp(a) is primarily taken up by the liver. In addition, Lp(a) from human serum incubated for 24 h at 37 °C in the absence of neuraminidase showed an increased uptake into the liver in comparison to fresh Lp(a) (experiments not shown) [24]. ** p < 0.01.