All issues > Volume 11(1); 1968

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1968;11(1):1-4. Published online January 31, 1968.

A Study on the Biosynthesis of Cholesterol in the Rat Liver Tissue

N.Y. Sung¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, college of medicine, Seoul, National University,Korea.

Abstract

Among the various factors to cause the low serum cholesterol contents of new-borns, which usually amounts only half the value of the maternal level, actove metabolisms in younger animals, together inmature biosynthetic activity could be proposed. The present author, therefor, managed to run a experiment employing Acetate-l-C14 incorporation test in the liver of young rat at its various times after the birth, and obtained results as follows The in vitro incorporation of acetate-1-C14 into liver cholesterol was traced in new-born rats immediately, 10 days and 2 months after the birth as well as in the maternal adults of those animals. The rate of cholesterol biosynthesis in the liver was 172-245 cpm/g tissue immediately after the bith,rincreasing to 728 cpm/g tissue after 2 months. The rate in the maternal adults was 650 cpm/g tissue, a slightly lower value than that of 2 month-old animal, but still higher than that immediatelyafter the birth by over 150%. It seems, therefore, that the difference in the serum cholesterol level between newborn and maternal sides results partly from the difference in the biosynthetic rate of cholesterol in the liver of the animal, as is shown in this study.

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