Comparison of methods for incorporating a radioiodinated residualizing cholesteryl ester analog into low density lipoprotein

Two different methods were evaluated for incorporating [¹²⁵I]cholesteryl iopanoate ([¹²⁵I]CI), a non-hydrolyzable cholesteryl ester analog, into LDL. The first procedure was an organic solvent delipidation-reconstitution procedure (R[¹²⁵I-CI]LDL) while the second involved incubation of detergent (Tween-20)-solubilized [¹²⁵I]CI with whole plasma (D[¹²⁵I-CI]LDL). R[¹²⁵I-CI]LDL behaved similar to native LDL in vitro, but was markedly different in vivo, apparently due to a heterogeneity in particle size. D[¹²⁵I-CI]LDL, however, was metabolized normally both in vitro and in vivo. These results, combined with the residualizing nature of [¹²⁵I]CI, demonstrate that D[¹²⁵I-CI]LDL is appropriate for tracing LDL uptake in vivo.