Restraint of cholesterol accumulation in tissue pools associated with drastic short-term lowering of serum cholesterol levels by clofibrate or cholestyramine in hypercholesterolemic swine

Abstract

In this study, young growing swine were made hypercholesterolemic (~300 mg/dl) by feeding milk and eggs for 7 wk. They were then divided into three groups (untreated, clofibrate-treated, and cholestyramine-treated), and the diet was continued for an additional 3-4 wk. A cholesterol balance study was carried out in the terminal week. When the swine were killed, the total carcass content of cholesterol was determined, as well as contents of individual tissues. Both drugs caused a 50% reduction in serum cholesterol levels. The total carcass cholesterol contents were significantly lower in both treatment groups than in the untreated group. The difference was due largely to lower concentrations in the plasma and in bulk tissues. [4-(14)C] Cholesterol was fed 7 days before the animals were killed, and specific activities of cholesterol in individual tissues were determined terminally. These gave a broad spectrum of values in tissues (excluding central nervous system) ranging rather evenly from 33% of plasma specific activity in the aorta to 100% in some tissues. The balance data suggest that cholestyramine reduces the enterohepatic bile acid pool and cholesterol absorption but increases fecal output of bile acids and total body cholesterol synthesis. The balance data, limited to the terminal week, give no indication of the mode of action of clofibrate. Even synthesis was not significantly lower than in the untreated swine.