Tissue distribution of cholesterol and 24-dehydrocholesterol during chronic triparanol therapy

Abstract

The tissues of five patients who died following 4–31 months of continuous oral triparanol therapy have been analyzed for sterol content by gas–liquid chromatographic techniques. Desmosterol was present in variable amounts in all tissues examined, with the exception of nervous tissue, but in none of the tissues did desmosterol constitute a larger fraction of total sterols than that observed in the blood. No evidence of marked adrenal cholesterol depletion was apparent. Small but significant amounts of desmosterol were found in both relatively normal and atherosclerotic blood vessels. No preferential accumulation of desmosterol as compared with cholesterol was apparent in either the blood vessels or in any of the body tissues examined.

Keywords

• desmosterol
• cholesterol
• metabolism
• man
• triparanol
• gas–liquid chromatography