Serum cholestanol in health and diseases: Aplication of mass fragmentography to chlinical chemistry

Abstract

Serum cholestanol concentrations in health and various diseases were determined with mass fragmentography.
The range of serum cholestanol in 18 normal subjects was 0.22-0.58mg/dl.
Hypercholestanolemia without hypercholesterolemia were observed in all 5 cases of cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis.
This paper reports also the remarkable elevation of serum cholestanol in the patients with obstructive jaundice or cholestatic hepatitis.
Other diseases with hypercholesterolemia such as nephrotic syndrome showed slight elevation of serum cholestanol, but the ratio of cholestanol to cholesterol was similar to normal control.
Cholesterol oxidases from various origins reacts. also upon cholestanol. However the amount of serum cholestanol was small enough as compared with that of cholesterol, so that the positive error originated from cholestanol in the enzymatic determination of serum cholesterol is usually considered negligible except the cases of cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis and the obstructive liver diseases