ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of death in many Western societies and plasma lipids emerge from epidemiology studies as significant risk factors. Thus, a strong correlation exists between plasma concentration of low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). In addition, abundant evidence implicates oxidatively modified LDL (referred to here as “oxidised LDL”) in initiating and/or promoting atherosclerosis in vivo. This chapter will discuss how LDL may become oxidised in vivo and
preventative strategies that exist to modulate or remove oxidised lipids/lipoproteins. In addition, reasons for the apparent inverse relationship between high density lipoprotein (HDL) and CHD will be discussed. It should be noted that despite a clear association between oxidised lipoproteins (specifically LDL) and atherosclerosis, there is, as yet, no in vivo evidence for a causal role of such damage in this disease.
