Table 5.

HMG-CoA reductase activity in hamster hepatic microsomes (pmol [¹⁴C]mevalonolactone/min/mg microsomal protein)

Group	Activity-NaF	Total activity+NaF
Control	12.36	9.30
Lovastatin	13.34	ND
Gl (2.5%)	5.86a	2.66a
Gl (5%)	8.08a	4.86a

Refer to the text for methodologic details. [¹⁴C]mevalonate was converted to [¹⁴C]mevalonolactone with 10 M HCl before the TLC step. Values above were corrected for recovery (15–63%) with [³H]mevalonate. G. lucidum, but not lovastatin, was found to inhibit ex vivo synthesis whether: recovery was accounted for; results were expressed per gram liver weight; [¹⁴C]mevalonolactone was first extracted into organic solvent and then applied to TLC plates [79] rather than applying aqueous extracts directly to TLC plates [55] as reported above (data not shown); and whether or not endogenous phosphatase activity was inhibited with 50 mM NaF (shown above). Values represent mean of 6 determinations. ^aSignificantly different from control, students unpaired, 2-tailed t-test, equal variances (P < 0.05). ND, not determined.