Kinetic and thermodynamic analyses of spontaneous exchange between high-density lipoprotein-bound and lipid-free apolipoprotein A-I.

It is thought that apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) spontaneously exchanges between high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-bound and lipid-free states, which is relevant to the occurrence of preβ-HDL particles in plasma. To improve our understanding of the mechanistic basis for this phenomenon, we performed kinetic and thermodynamic analyses for apoA-I exchange between discoidal HDL-bound and lipid-free forms using fluorescence-labeled apoA-I variants. Gel filtration experiments demonstrated that addition of excess lipid-free apoA-I to discoidal HDL particles promotes exchange of apoA-I between HDL-associated and lipid-free pools without alteration of the steady-state HDL particle size.