Measurement of the amount of cholesterol, a eukaryotic sterol that in higher animals is the precursor of bile acids and steroid hormones and a key constituent of cell membranes, carried in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) molecules in a specified volume of plasma, the fibrinogen-containing fluid portion of the blood in which the particulate components are suspended. HDL is the smallest of the major lipoprotein particles, complex molecules that consist of a protein membrane surrounding a core of lipids. The HDL class of lipoproteins, specifically the subtypes of HDL2 and HDL3, have densities between 1.063 and 1.210 g/ml.
plasma intermediate density lipoprotein cholesterol level +
plasma low density lipoprotein cholesterol level +
plasma total cholesterol level
plasma very low density lipoprotein cholesterol level +
serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol level +