The phosphatides of human plasma. II. Abnormalities encountered in the nephrotic syndrome.

Abnormalities in the plasma lipids have been correlated with the nephrotic syndrome for many years. Zone (3) and immunoelectrophoresis (4), Cohn fractionation (5), and ultracentrifugal analysis (6, 7) have all confirmed increased concentrations of certain plasma lipoproteins. Recent studies by Baxter, Goodman and Havel (7) have documented abnormal proportions of cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipid in the lipoprotein classes. Neither the course of events leading to these abnormalities nor their role in the manifestations of the nephrotic syndrome is well understood. Data on the phosphatides in this condition have been limited to alterations in the levels of the lipid phosphorus in the plasma and in the lipoprotein classes (7), and to changes in the incorporation of P32 into the lipid phosphorus of plasma (8). A change in the composition of the plasma phosphatides has been postulated on the basis of these p32 experiments. This study was undertaken to investigate, by the use of chromatographic techniques, the individual phosphatides in the plasma of patients with the nephrotic syndrome.