Turnover of plasma cholesterol in man

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Abstract

Cholesterol-4-14C was injected intravenously into a series of normal men, untreated hyperlipidemic patients, and hyperlipidemic patients being treated with cholestyramine. The specific radioactivity of plasma total cholesterol was measured during the ensuing 10 wk. 16 studies were carried out in 10 subjects. Analysis of the turnover curves of plasma cholesterol revealed that in every study the turnover of plasma cholesterol conformed to a two-pool model. Each turnover curve was analyzed in terms of this model, as expressed by the equation: specific activity = CAe-αt + CBe-βt. The parameters which were calculated included the constants CA, CB, α, and β; the size of the first pool (MA); the rate constants for the total rate of removal of cholesterol from each pool (kAA and kBB); and the production rate in pool A (PRA). In two normal men and five untreated patients the average size of pool A was 25g.

Authors

DeWitt S. Goodman, Robert P. Noble