[Total content and cholesterol fractions in tissues of cockerels under experimental hypercholesterolemia].

Experimental hypercholesterolemia was induced in cockerels at the age of 2-3 months by feeding rations with added cholesterol (1%) and sunflower oil (5%) for 4 weeks. It was found that in the liver the concentration of free cholesterol was 3 times as high while that of cholesterol esters was more than 10 times as high. The content of both free and esterified cholesterol in intestinal mucosa and intestinal smooth muscle increased considerably. Cholesterol of skeletal muscles which is present mainly by its free form increased insignificantly. A conclusion is drawn that the intestine parallel with the liver may play a homesotatic role in the body cholesterol control. In erythrocytes and in their nuclei cholesterol is in an unesterified form. Under hypercholesterolemia the content of cholesterol in erythrocytes remains normal, that evidences for its stability in the plasmic and nuclear membranes.