The Species Specificity of Cholestyramine in Its Effect on Synthesis Of Liver Lipids and Level of Serum Cholesterol

Abstract

Summary The effect of dietary cholestyramine on plasma and liver sterol levels, and on in vitro hepatic lipid synthesis from acetate-1-C¹⁴ were compared in the rat and chicken at intervals up to 35 days. The resin had no effect on plasma or hepatic cholesterol levels in the rat. In the chicken, plasma cholesterol levels were significantly reduced by cholestyramine although liver cholesterol was not changed. Sterol synthesis by rat liver homogenates was significantly increased within 24 hours after addition of cholestyramine to the diet, and a significant reduction in sterol synthesis occurred within 24 hours after removal of cholestyramine from the diet. Cholestyramine also stimulated sterol synthesis by chicken liver homogenates, but the increase was of considerably lesser magnitude than in the rat. The results are in accord with the hypothesis that cholestyramine significantly lowers plasma cholesterol levels in species which cannot increase hepatic sterol synthesis sufficiently to compensate for increased fecal loss of bile acids and other steroidal substances.