Background: Pre-1-HDL participates in a cyclic process involved in the retrieval of cholesterol from peripheral tissues. Although pre-1-HDL can be measured by two-dimensional electrophoresis or crossed immunoelectrophoresis, these methods are time-consuming and require technical expertise. In this study, we separated plasma lipid-poor apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) by highperformance size-exclusion chromatography.