Date of Award

12-2020

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Chemical and Paper Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. James R. Springstead

Second Advisor

Dr. Andrew A. Kline

Third Advisor

Dr. Qiang Yang

Keywords

Atherosclerosis, sd-LDL impact on inflammation, multiangle light scattering (MALS), sd-LDL particle size characterization, pathology of atherosclerosis

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease due to the accumulation of lipids in the inner wall of arteries. As per the report of Center of Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 4 deaths is due to heart diseases each year. Atherosclerosis occurs when artery walls harden by the buildup of cholesterol, forming multiple atherosclerotic plaques within the aorta (4). Out of the modern medicines available to control cholesterol, statin is amongst the foremost widely used because it is both safe and effective in lowering high risk patients (9). However, usage of high statins dosage typically leads to some mild adverse effects leads to increased risk of diabetes mellitus (15). It has been proved that high concentration of small dense LDL (sd-LDL) in the blood may be the most prominent cause of atherosclerosis. However, there is no reliable sd-LDL quantification method available today. A main objective in our lab is to develop a system which could quantify and characterize the sd-LDL present in a blood sample to measure patient risk for heart disease.

Our experiments indicate that multi-angle light scattering (MALS) may offer a promising technique to inexpensively determine the size distribution of LDL particles, when coupled with a separation unit, such as a size exclusion column or asymmetric field flow fractionation (As-FIFF). The main objective of the experiments in this thesis is to test MALS as an effective technique for the measurement of nanoparticles, including lipoproteins.

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