QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ukai, M. Articles by Ito, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ukai, M. Articles by Ito, M.

Cholesterol Synthesis in Germfree and Conventional Rats

Institute of Germfree Life Research, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya 466 and Department of Internal Medicine, Fujita Gakuen University, Aichi 470-11, Japan

The synthesis of cholesterol from labeled acetate and mevalonate by the liver and intestinal tract was investigated in germfree and conventional rats. When a low cholesterol diet was fed, the rates of in vitro synthesis from acetate by the liver, ileum and cecum of germfree rats were 13%, 11% and 25% of those of conventional rats, respectively. Cholesterol feeding markedly inhibited hepatic cholesterol synthesis from acetate in both germfree and conventional rats. Such inhibitions were released by additional cholestyramine feeding. The rate of hepatic cholesterol synthesis was greater and the liver cholesterol level was less after cholestyramine feeding in germfree rats than in conventional rats, suggesting an importance of bile acids in the regulation of cholesterol metabolism in the germfree rat. There was an inverse proportionality between the logarithmic rate of hepatic cholesterol synthesis and the liver cholesterol level in the germfree rat. Data indicate that endogenous cholesterol synthesis in the germfree rat may not be responsible for the high cholesterol level in plasma or liver and that the liver cholesterol level may play a major role in the regulation of hepatic cholesterogenesis in the germfree rat by a mechanism similar to that in the conventional rat.

KEY WORDS: • cholesterol synthesis • liver cholesterol • plasma cholesterol • bile acids • cholestyramine • germfree rat

Manuscript received 31 December 1975.