Effect of stearic acid and cholesterol on biosynthesis of sterol by the chicken liver

¹ Department of Clinical Science, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

The liver of the chicken synthesizes cholesterol from C¹⁴-1-acetate. Stearic acid fed to chickens at a 10% level by weight in the diet was associated with a significant increase in the rate of hepatic cholesterol synthesis above that of the control group. Neither our observations nor those in the literature on other species reveal whether the observed augmentation was due to the saturation of the stearic acid. The feeding of cholesterol at a level of 2.5% by weight of the diet decidedly inhibited the hepatic synthesis of cholesterol whether 10% stearic acid was present in (76% inhibition) or absent from the diet (78% inhibition). A relatively large (23%) hepatic synthesis of cholesterol occurred when the diet contained more cholesterol than could be absorbed under the conditions of this experiment.