Intestinal absorption of coprostanol (coprosterol) in the rat

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

A basal sterol-free diet consisting of casein, 18%; dextrin, 57%; oleic acid, 9%; U.S.P. salt mixture, 2%; yeast, 5%; and cellulose, 9%; along with 1% sulfasuxidine and 0.2% streptomycin sulfate was fed to eight rats during a control period of 12 days, the feces being collected under alcohol the last 4 days and assayed for digitonide sterol. The experiment was repeated with the addition of 28 mg of coprostanol to the diet. It was found that from 41 to 61% (average 48%) of the coprostanol was absorbed. The relation of chemical structure to the absorbability of cholesterol derivatives is discussed with the finding that all absorbable cholesterol derivatives have the ‘chair’ conformation, but are not alike in digitonide formation and Liebermann-Burchard color reaction.