Additional Evidence Substantiating the Existence of a Readily Precipitable Form of Cholesterol in Triglyceride Solution 1

Abstract

Summary

Experiments involving the precipitation of cholesterol from saturated solution in coconut oil by excess amounts of either ¹⁴C-pimelic acid or ¹⁴C-imidazole demonstrate that at equilibrium in either case there is essentially no more ¹⁴C in solution than that due to the inherent solubility of the ¹⁴C-pimelic acid or ¹⁴C-imidazole in coconut oil. These findings are interpreted as indicating the absence of “soluble” clathrates of cholesterol and pimelic acid or imidazole and are consistent with the hypothesis that cholesterol at saturation in triglycerides is present both as a “less stable” (dimeric and/or higher form?) and as a “more stable” (monomeric?) form, where only the dimeric and/or higher form precipitates under the in vitro experimental conditions.