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. 1972 Feb;51(2):197–205. doi: 10.1172/JCI106804

In Vivo Demonstration of the Cholesterol Feedback System by Means of a Desmosterol Suppression Technique

Lee A Bricker 1, Hans J Weis 1, Marvin D Siperstein 1
PMCID: PMC302117  PMID: 5009109

Abstract

This report describes a “desmosterol suppression” technique with which it has been possible to demostrate the operation of the cholesterol negative feedback system in the intact animal. 0.1% triparanol in the diet causes a virtually complete block in the conversion of desmosterol to cholesterol by liver and intestine. Since desmosterol is not consumed in the diet, the level of plasma desmosterol can be employed as an index of endogenous sterol production and release into the bloodstream. With this technique it was shown that the feeding of cholesterol for 8 days to rats decreases blood desmosterol levels to less than 5% of control values. Very similar results were obtained when cholesterol synthesis was assayed in vivo with acetate-14C as a cholesterol precursor. These observations indicate that the cholesterol feedback system operates very effectively in the intact animal in suppressing the endogenous contribution to the circulating cholesterol pool. Since intestinal cholesterol synthesis is only slightly inhibited by exogenous cholesterol, these results also indicate that the intestine does not represent a significant source of plasma sterols in the rat.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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