Abstract
Atherosclerosis is a major cause for cardiovascular diseases. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) may reduce atherosclerosis through several different mechanisms. HDL is composed of lipids, cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, triglycerides, and phospholipids, mainly phosphatidylcholine plus specialized proteins called apolipoproteins (apos). In this study, we prepared vitamin E containing HDL (VE-HDL) that contains egg phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, vitamin E, and two kinds of recombinant human apolipoproteins (rhapo)-rhapoA-I and rhapoE in vitro by the facilitation of cholate. After that, we studied the effects of VE-HDL on foam cell formation, cellular cholesterol efflux, oxidative low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-stimulated oxidative stress, and apoptosis of macrophages to evaluate the protective efficacy of VE-HDL on macrophages. As the results showed, we prepared a new type of reconstituent HDL with apolipoproteins and vitamin E for the first time. VE-HDL has protective efficacy on macrophages. It has the prospect of becoming a therapeutic agent on atherosclerosis in the future.