Abstract
Summary
Thirty-two castrated adult female rabbits were divided equally into four groups treated with no hormone, progesterone alone, estrogen alone, and weekly alternation of estrogen and progesterone, respectively. An additional nine intact female rabbits served as normal controls; 25 μCi of cholesterol-7α-3H was given to each rabbit Intravenously six weeks after the commencement of hormonal treatment. The subsequent disappearance curves of serum cholesterol specific activity were analyzed and various kinetic parameters were obtained.
The results indicated that castration removed the inhibitory effect on cholesterol biosynthesis and prolonged its mean transit time with consequent expansion of body exchangeable cholesterol pool size. Such effects could be reversed by administration of estrogen alone or with progesterone but not by administration of progesterone alone.
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