The Phenotyping Core Laboratory (Core Unit A) will serve all projects on a highly interactive basis. Core Unit A has seven objectives. Objective 1 is to acquire, process, aliquot, and store blood samples as they come into the laboratory. On average, 426 serum and plasma samples/year will come in for processing. Objective 2 is to manage these and all other program-related samples currently in storage. Objective 3 is to quantify indicators of endothelial dysfunction in blood samples and culture medium. There will be an average of 213 blood samples/year and 326 samples/year of culture medium, in which as many as six endothelial functional markers will be assessed. The six biomarkers are E-selectin, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and macrophage chemotactic protein 1, which will be assayed only in culture medium, and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and von Willibrand's factor, which will be assayed in both blood and culture medium samples. Objective 4 is to quantify, in an average of 139 samples per year, a panel of established risk factors for cardiovascular disease in blood samples from baboons undergoing an experiment that involves feeding an atherogenic diet for two years before a necropsy protocol for assessing extent of atherosclerotic lesions. The risk factors to be quantified include several analytes assayed using standard clinical chemistry methods (total and HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, apoAl, apoB, apoE, total antioxidant status, and C-reactive protein) and several specialized biochemical assays of established risk factors (lipoprotein size properties using gradient gel electrophoretic methods, enzyme activities of paraoxonase and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, and concentrations of oxidized LDL). Objective 5 is to quantify extent of atherosclerotic lesions in artery samples taken at necropsy. Objective 6 is to establish new methodologies as required. Finally, Objective 7 is to collect and validate the data produced in this Core Unit and to make them available for analysis by Program investigators. The activities proposed for Core Unit A will provide a rich resource of samples and data that will be required to meet the Aims of the Projects in this Program.
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