Regulation of Cholesterol Metabolism

THE central features of the mechanisms by which cholesterol metabolism is regulated in intact animals were clearly elucidated in 1933 by Schoenheimer and Breusch¹ — namely, that the synthesis, absorption and destruction of cholesterol in the mammal is controlled by complex interlocking feedback mechanism (or mechanisms), of which bile acids and cholesterol themselves are the principal mediators. In view of the fact that this superstructure for cholesterol metabolism was developed before the introduction of isotopic technics into biologic research, it is surprising that the intimate details of the regulatory mechanisms themselves and the means by which the regulatory mechanisms interdigitate.