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Department of Pathology, Baylor University, College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
In an attempt to evaluate the role of blood leukocytes in the transport of lipids in circulation, cholesterol content and ingested exogenous cholesterol-4-14C were measured in leukocytes and plasma. Cellular lipids extracted from washed leukocytes of rabbits were fractionated chromatographically and measured spectrophotometrically. The leukocytes contained 1.8 and 0.6 mg/109 cells of free and esterified cholesterol, respectively. Predominance of free cholesterol in leukocytes (free-ester ratio = 3:1) contrasted with predominance of esterified cholesterol in plasma (1:2.5). Twenty-two rabbits received intragastric administration of cholesterol-4-14C and were killed after 4 hours, 18 hours, 7 days and 14 days. The cholesterol fractions of leukocytes and plasma were assayed by liquid scintillation counting. In leukocytes, the free fraction of labeled cholesterol was highest after 7 days, but the esterified fraction remained low throughout the 14-day period. In plasma, the labeled cholesterol was highest also after 7 days, but the esterified fraction was higher than the free throughout the experiment. The results indicate that blood leukocytes play a role in the transport of cholesterol in the circulation.
2 Presented in part at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology at Atlantic City, New Jersey, in April, 1968.
Manuscript received 11 July 1968.