The isolation of 2,3-oxidosqualene from the liver of rats treated with 1-dodecylimidazole, a novel hypocholesterolaemic agent.

1. Non-saponifiable lipid from the livers of rats treated with 1-dodecylimidazole contained an unidentified compound that was not present in the livers from untreated animals. 2. Treated rats had lower serum cholesterol concentrations than control rats. 3. 1-Dodecylimidazole, when added to rat liver slices, inhibited the incorporation of [1-(14)C]acetate and [2-(14)C]mevalonate into digitonin-precipitable sterols and resulted in the accumulation of a labelled compound, which was chromatographically identical with the unknown compound described in 1 above. 4. Rats treated with 1-dodecylimidazole incorporated less [(14)C]mevalonate into liver digitonin-precipitable sterols than untreated animals and accumulated the unknown compound as a labelled intermediate. 5. The unknown intermediate had the same chromatographic properties, n.m.r. and mass spectra as authentic 2,3-oxidosqualene. 6. The identity of the intermediate as 2,3-oxidosqualene was further established by showing that it was incorporated into sterols by rat liver homogenates under anaerobic conditions. In addition, incubation of [(14)C]squalene with rat liver homogenates resulted in trapping of the radioactivity by the added intermediate. 7. It is suggested that the hypocholesterolaemic activity of 1-dodecylimidazole results in part from the inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis at the level of 2,3-oxidosqualene sterol cyclase.