Inhibitors of sterol synthesis. Morphological studies in rats after dietary administration of 5 alpha-cholest-8(14)-en-3 beta-ol-15-one, a potent hypocholesterolemic compound.

The morphological effects of short-term (9 days) dietary administration (0.1% in a laboratory chow diet) of 5 alpha-cholest-8(14)-en-3 beta-ol-15-one, a novel regulator of cholesterol metabolism with significant hypocholesterolemic activity, has been studied in young male rats. Control animals included rats fed the basal diet ad libitum and a series of rats pair-fed to the individual experimental animals. At the time of necropsy, the morphological changes in rats which have been observed in rats following treatment with other absorbable hypolipidemic agents (myeloid bodies with triparanol, increased peroxisomes with clofibrate, and proliferation of smooth endoplasmic reticulum with compactin and mevinolin) were not apparent on ultrastructural examination of livers of rats treated with the 15-ketosterol. Two changes were observed in the rats fed the 15-ketosterol: a decrease in adipose tissue and enlargement of the small intestine. Diminished fat was also noted in the pair-fed controls and was presumably due to decreased food consumption. The intestines of rats fed the 15-ketosterol were morphometrically most enlarged in the jejunal region. Morphologically, this increase was distinguished by increased depth of crypts of Lieberkuhn and pseudostratification of epithelium at the base of the villi. These changes were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the adaptive changes reported in the rat after resection of small bowel or following intestinal bypass (segment of bowel remaining in continuity). The morphological changes induced in the rat by administration of the 15-ketosterol were not observed in 4 baboons which received the compound orally at doses of 50, 75, or 100 mg per kilogram of body weight for up to 3 months.