What Is HDL Cholesterol?
5. Measuring HDL Size and Concentration
Since technology has helped to reduce the costs of tests while clinical trials continuously demonstrate the importance of HDL, more methods to directly measure HDL are now available. This is important as it is regarded as an important tool to assess the risk of progressive arterial disease.
The size of HDL indicates the function of the particle. Electrophoresis measurements can be performed as the HDL particles have a negative charge while varying by size and density. Nuclear magnetic resonance can also be used for measurement. The multiethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA) is a research study sponsored by the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that tracks the HDL particles and categorizes it by event rate percentiles.
Advertisement
