University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Internal Medicine, Helsinki, Finland.
University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Heart and Lung Center, Cardiology, Helsinki, Finland.
Curr Med Chem. 2019;26(37):6776-6785. doi: 10.2174/0929867325666180713160330.
Phytosterol measurement has gained a lot of interest during the last two decades after foods and supplements with added 4-desmethyl phytosterols were recognized and used as effective and safe non-pharmacologic hypocholesterolemic agents, and also after the mechanisms of intestinal absorption and hepatic excretion of sterols were unraveled. In addition, the wide use of serum phytosterols as biomarkers of cholesterol absorption has increased the interest in their measurement. In this review, the basic methods are discussed without going into details of the practical operations. The analysis includes first lipid extraction and saponification from various biologic matrices such as serum/plasma, feces, or tissues, after which the individual sterols are separated by adsorption chromatography (gas-liquid or liquid or high performance liquid chromatography) based on the polarity of the various sterols. We also deal with some specific aspects of phytosterol measurements in biological samples such as the need of harmonization of their analysis in biological samples, the discrepancies in the results of sitosterol and campesterol concentrations between different studies, and what is known about their biological day-to-day fluctuation. Phytosterols have a remarkable role in human health, so that their complicated and time consuming measurements call attention to routine ways of standardization between the sterol research laboratories.
在过去的二十年中，随着添加了 4-去甲基植物固醇的食品和补充剂被识别并用作有效且安全的非药物降胆固醇药物，以及甾醇的肠道吸收和肝脏排泄机制被揭示，植物固醇的测量引起了广泛关注。此外，血清植物固醇作为胆固醇吸收的生物标志物的广泛应用增加了人们对其测量的兴趣。在本综述中，基本方法进行了讨论，而没有详细介绍实际操作细节。分析包括首先从血清/血浆、粪便或组织等各种生物基质中提取脂质并进行皂化，然后根据各种固醇的极性通过吸附色谱（气-液或液-液或高效液相色谱）分离各个固醇。我们还涉及生物样品中植物固醇测量的一些特定方面，例如需要对生物样品中的分析进行协调，不同研究中甾醇和谷固醇浓度结果之间的差异，以及它们的生物学日常波动情况。植物固醇对人类健康有显著作用，因此其复杂且耗时的测量引起了固醇研究实验室之间标准化的常规方法的关注。
