Measurement of lipoprotein lipase activity in post heparin plasma: description of technique*

Abstract

A method has been described for the quantitative assay of lipoprotein lipase activity in post heparin plasma. The conditions of the assay were subjected to critical study. The technique described permits the reaction to proceed in the test tube as a zero order reaction. It is believed that this technique will permit accurate quantitative study of lipoprotein lipase activity in different groups of patients. The rate of lipolysis was compared with the rate of clearing of lipemic plasma. The ratio of the rate of lipolysis to the rate of clearing was quite variable in normal subjects. This suggests that the use of the clearing technique to study lipoprotein lipase activity in different groups of patients, or under different experimental conditions, may give misleading results.