Table 1.

Examples of MβCD-induced depletion of cellular free cholesterol.

MβCD/time	cell type	Depletion	Reference
20 mM/1.5 h	COS-7	~50%	[12]
10 mM/8 h	mouse L-cell fibroblasts	~100%	[7]
10 mM/2 h	rod disk membranes	~65%	[13]
10 mM/1 h	mast cells	~60%	[14]
10 mM/1 h	arterial rings	~20%	[15]
10 mM/0.5 h	BHK	~60%	[16]*
10 mM/1 h	MDCK	~70%	[16]*
5 mM/8 h	mouse L-cell fibroblasts	~80%	[7]
5 mM/2 h	CHO	~60%	[17]
5 mM/0.5–1 h	A431	~30%/~40%	[18]
5 mM/2 h	aortic endothelium	~90%	[10]
2.5 mM/6 h	rat hepatoma	~70%	[8]
0.5 mM/0.5 h	T lymphocytes, young	2 fold up	[19]
0.5 mM/1 h	T lymphocytes, young	~30%	[19]
0.5 mM/1 h	T lymphocytes, elderly	~40%	[19]

The levels of free (unesterified) cholesterol were measured either by gas-liquid chromotography [7, 8, 10, 17] or using colorimetric or fluorometric cholesterol oxidase assays [14–16, 19]. We have compared the two methods directly and obtained identical results (not shown). It is important to note that the variability between the different studies may be attributed not only to the type of cell and concentration and duration of the CD exposure but also to differences in cell density, passage, temperature, and other experimental conditions that may not be specified in the original papers.

^*In this study, cells were first pretreated with lovastatin/mevalonate to inhibit cholesterol synthesis