Figure 2
Schematic structure of lipoproteins. Lipoproteins are composed of cholesterol, phospholipids and apolipoproteins surrounding a hydrophobic core of triglycerides and cholesteryl esters. VLDL has a greater diameter (with a very low density) and contains a large amount of triglyceride and small amounts of cholesteryl ester in its core. VLDL is metabolized to IDL and then to LDL, which has a smaller diameter (with a greater density than VLDL or IDL) and a large proportion of cholesteryl esters with small amounts of triglycerides (reviewed in Feingold & Grunfeld 2015).
