Abstract
Cholesterol and cholesteryl esters are the predominant lipids of atherosclerotic plaques. To provide fundamental data for the quantitative study of plaque lipids in situ, crystalline cholesterol (CHOL) and CHOL/cholesteryl ester (CE) mixtures with other lipids were studied by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance with magic-angle-sample spinning. Highly distinctive spectra for three different crystalline structures of CHOL were obtained. When CHOL crystals were mixed with isotropic CE oil, solubilized CHOL (approximately 13 mol % CHOL) was detected by characteristic resonances such as C5, C6, and C3; the excess crystalline CHOL (either anhydrous or monohydrate) remained in its original crystalline structure, without being affected by the coexisting CE. By use of 13C-enriched CHOL, the solubility of CHOL in the CE liquid-crystalline phase (approximately 8 mol %) was measured. When phosphatidylcholine was hydrated in presence of CHOL and CE, magic-angle-sampling nuclear magnetic resonance revealed liquid-crystalline CHOL/phosphatidylcholine multilayers with approximately an equal molar ratio of CHOL/phosphatidylcholine. Excess CHOL existed in the monohydrate crystalline form, and CE in separate oil or crystalline phases, depending on the temperature. The magic-angle-sampling nuclear magnetic resonance protocol for identifying different lipid phases was applied to intact (ex vivo) atherosclerotic plaques of cholesterol-fed rabbits. Liquid, liquid-crystalline, and solid phases of CE were characterized.