Differing alpha-tocopherol oxidative lability and ascorbic acid sparing effects in buoyant and dense LDL

The enhanced oxidizability of smaller, more dense LDL is explained in part by a lower content of antioxidants, including ubiquinol-10 and alpha-tocopherol. In the present studies, we also observed greater rates of depletion of alpha-tocopherol (mole per mole LDL per minute) in dense (d = 1,040 to 1,054 g/mL) compared with buoyant (d = 1,026 to 1,032 g/mL) LDL in the presence of either Cu2+ or the radical-generating agent 2-2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane)dihydrochloride. Differences were particularly pronounced at the lowest Cu2+ concentration tested (0.25 mumol/L), with a fivefold greater rate in dense LDL. At higher concentrations (1.0 and 2.5 mumol/L Cu2+), there was a greater dependence of depletion rate on initial amount of alpha-tocopherol, which was reduced in dense LDL, thus resulting in smaller subfraction-dependent differences in depletion rates. Inclusion of ascorbic acid (15 mumol/L), an aqueous antioxidant capable of recycling alpha-tocopherol by hydrogen donation, was found to extend the course of Cu(2+)-induced alpha-tocopherol depletion in both buoyant and dense LDL, but this effect was more pronounced in dense LDL (time to half-maximal alpha-tocopherol depletion was extended 15.6-fold and 21.2-fold in buoyant and dense LDL, respectively, at 2.5 mumol/L Cu2+; P< .05). Thus, dense LDL exhibits more rapid alpha-tocopherol depletion and conjugated diene formation than buoyant LDL when oxidation is performed in the absence of ascorbic acid, but these differences are reversed in the presence of ascorbic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)