The separation of the acetate derivatives of a number of oxygenated sterols was achieved by medium pressure liquid chromatography on silica gel columns and by normal and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. We have explored the application of these chromatographic systems for the analysis of oxygenated sterols of plasma samples from two normal human subjects. The addition of h...

Sitosterolemia and xanthomatosis together are a disease characterized by premature cardiovascular disease, and by elevated plasma concentrations of total sterols and of plant sterols, especially sitosterol which is hyperabsorbed. In order to determine whether this abnormal metabolism also involved other sterols, a patient with sitosterolemia was fed a diet high in shellfish that contain signifi...

The plasma concentrations of cholesterol precursor sterols and plant sterols vary over a 5- to 10-fold range among normolipidemic individuals, and provide indices of the relative rates of cholesterol synthesis and fractional absorption. In the present study, we examined the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to variation in the plasma concentrations and sterol-cholester...

Whole body sterol metabolism in insects has seldom been studied. We were able to design an appropriate study at a butterfly farm in Belize. We collected six larvas of butterfly (Morpho peleides), their food (leaves of Pterocarpus bayessii), and their excretions. In addition, six adult butterflies were collected. The sterols of the diet, the larva, and adult butterfly were analyzed by gas-liquid...

The role of membrane sterols in the compaction and subsequent development of the preimplantation mouse embryo was studied by incubating embryos in 7-ketocholesterol and other oxygenated sterols. These sterols have been shown to inhibit sterol synthesis and deplete membranes of cholesterol in a variety of ther cell types. Compaction and subsequent blastocyst formation were normal when embryos we...

The role of membrane sterols in the compaction and subsequent development of the preimplantation mouse embryo was studied by incubating embryos in 7-ketocholesterol and other oxygenated sterols. These sterols have been shown to inhibit sterol synthesis and deplete membranes of cholesterol in a variety of other cell types. Compaction and subsequent blastocyst formation were normal when embryos w...

Coronary patients with low baseline ratios of serum cholestanol and plant sterols to cholesterol (indicating low cholesterol absorption) but not those with high ratios (high absorption) experienced reduced recurrences of coronary events during simvastatin treatment in the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study. Thus, in the present study, serum cholesterol, its precursor sterols (reflecting ch...

Eighteen sterols were identified in Botryllus schlosseri, stanols being the main sterols. The sterol composition is in agreement with our recent paper on taxonomic separation of tunicates into three groups. Again we found in invertebrates of the Black Sea sterols with a (22Z)-double bond. This confirms the presence of such sterols in nature. The composition of the phospholipids appeared to be c...

Lembehsterols A (1) and B (2), two novel sulfated sterols, were isolated from the marine sponge Petrosia strongylata. Both sterols showed inhibitory activity against thymidine phosphorylase, which is an enzyme related to angiogenesis in solid tumors. The structures of these sulfated sterols were established on the basis of chemical and physicochemical evidence.