The transport of cholesterol through the plasma in normal man

Abstract

This review includes a brief account of the routes of entry of cholesterol into the plasma by (a) secretion of lipoproteins and (b) uptake of tissue free cholesterol by lipoproteins in the interstitial fluid, the metabolic transformation undergone by cholesterol within the plasma, with particular reference to the esterification of plasma free cholesterol by lecithin:cholesteryl acyltransferase and the redistribution of esterified cholesterol from high-density to low-density and very-low-density lipoprotein, and the routes by which cholesterol is removed from the plasma by bulk transport. The review end with a balance sheet showing the approximate amounts of cholesterol entering and leaving the plasma by different routes.