Acceleration of hepatic cholesterol synthesis by triton WR-1339.

Synthesis of cholesterol from acetate in the rat was studied after injection of triton WR-1339, both in the whole animal and by the liver slice technique. Synthesis appeared to be increased 3-fold 24 hours after the injection. It was depressed after 72 hours, concurrently with a rise in the cholesterol concentration in the liver and its fall towards normal in the blood. When triton was injected into cholesterol-fed animals, or when their bile ducts were ligated, cholesterol synthesis was faster than in the untreated, normally fed controls, despite, in some instances, an elevated concentration of cholesterol in the liver.