In Vitro Exchange of β-Sitosterol between Erythrocytes and Plasma of Rats

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The erythrocytes and plasma of rats were not labeled equally with sterols even after feeding plant sterols for 2 months.
When erythrocytes and plasma were labeled in vivo with radioactive sterols, the in vitro exchange of cholesterol between cells and plasma was considerably greater than that of β-sitosterol. The dependence of the transfer on plasma lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase was much less with β-sitosterol.
More labeled β-sitosterol existed in high density lipoprotein and less in very-low density and low density lipoproteins than cholesterol, when plasma was labeled in vivo. A similar distribution pattern was observed when plasma was incubated with labeled erythrocytes. These results suggest that an extra ethyl group in the side chain of the molecule substantially influences the metabolic behavior of the sterols.