Analysis of Drug Interactions with Lipoproteins by High-Performance Affinity Chromatography

Lipoproteins such as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are known to interact with drugs and other solutes in blood. These interactions have been examined in the past by methods such as equilibrium dialysis and capillary electrophoresis. This chapter describes an alternative approach that has recently been developed for examining these interactions by using high-performance affinity chromatography. In this method, lipoproteins are covalently immobilized to a solid support and used within a column as a stationary phase for binding studies. This approach allows the same lipoprotein preparation to be used for a large number of binding studies, leading to precise estimates of binding parameters. This chapter will discuss how this technique can be applied to the identification of interaction models and be used to differentiate between systems that have interactions based on partitioning, adsorption or mixed-mode interactions. It is also shown how this approach can then be used for the measurement of binding parameters for HDL and LDL with drugs. Examples of these studies are provided, with particular attention being given to the use of frontal analysis to examine the interactions of R- and S-propranolol with HDL and LDL. The advantages and possible limitations of this method are described. The extension of this approach to other types of drug-lipoprotein interactions is also considered.