[In vitro biosynthesis of cholesterol and its precursors in the osseous tissue of rats].

By thin-layer chromatography compounds of sterol origin were isolated from the nonsaponified fraction of bone tissue of rats. The occurrence of squalene, lanosterol, cholesterol and incompletely identified Cdelta2427-sterol in the organic matrix of the bone was demonstrated by means of UV- and IR-spectrometry. Bone tissue incubation with 1,2-C14-aceticacid yielded C14-labeled lanosterol, C28, 29-sterols, cholesterol and squalene. The rate of cholesterol synthesis in the bone tissue was lower than that in the liver and intestine of rats.