Interaction of human serum lipoproteins with biomaterials.

Human serum was incubated with representative portions of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blood storage bags and vascular prostheses. The in vitro interaction process with lipoprotein was followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) using sudan black and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) in the prestaining procedure. Densitometric scan of all the lipoprotein bands in serum after incubation with PVC bag material when prestained with sudan black showed remarkable increase in intensity. However, in the same experiment when NBT was used for prestaining no increase in the intensity of any of the lipoprotein bands could be observed. Since sudan black is known to bind cholesterol specifically we suggest that a molecular unfolding occurs when lipoprotein interacts with PVC bag material. When similar experiments were carried out with vascular prosthesis there was conspicuous decrease in the intensity of the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) band especially when stained with NBT. This indicates preferential adhesion of HDL during interaction with vascular prosthesis.