Observations on the Nature of Radioactive Contaminants in Biosynthetic Cholesterol-C14. ∗

Abstract

Summary

Experiments have been carried out on the nature of the radioactive contaminants in biosynthetic cholesterol-C14 obtained from rat livers, employing preparations in which as much as 80% of the radioactivity was due to contaminating material. At least one major contaminating substance was still precipitable with digitonin after treatment with bromine, but it was not 3β-cholestanol. The data make it unlikely that 7-ketocholesterol, 7β hydroxycholesterol, cholestane-3β, 5α,6bT-triol, squalene or unutilized acetate contributed significantly to the radioactive contamination found in these preparations.