Abstract
Summary
The exchange of free cholesterol of endogenous or exogenous origin between plasma and red blood cells has been studied. Using tritiated cholesterol and 14C-mevalonic acid or sodium-1-14C-acetate, it has been shown that after incubation of labeled plasma with control RBC or of labeled RBC with control plasma, the free cholesterol 3H/14C ratio in plasma or RBC is unchanged. This is true for incubation of 6 or 24 hr. In a parallel series of experiments it was observed that the plasma 3H/14C free cholesterol ratio was unchanged after 24 hr of incubation in the presence of native lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase. The data confirm the findings in man and baboon which suggest that it is not possible to distinguish between plasma free cholesterol of endogenous or exogenous origin.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.