Quantification of lipoprotein profiles by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis

Lipoproteins and their subfraction profiles have been associated to diverse diseases including Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD). There is thus a great demand for measuring and quantifying the lipoprotein profile in an efficient and accurate manner. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is uniquely able to measure the lipoprotein profile of a blood sample non-destructively due to its sensitivity to both lipid chemistry and lipid-micellar physics. However, the NMR spectra must be scaled/regressed to a primary method of reference, such as ultracentrifugation, using multivariate regression methods. This review provides an overview of the field and explains the methods at stake. •Measurement of lipoproteins in human blood.•Quantification of lipoproteins using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.•Prediction of lipoprotein subclasses by multivariate data analysis.•Coherence between ultracentrifugation and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.