Hypercholesterolemia of total starvation: its mechanism via tissue mobilization of cholesterol.

After the establishment of a relatively linear decay curve for plasma [4-14C]cholesterol, rabbits were starved for 26-32 days. The plasma cholesterol concentration increased 400% during starvation. Concurrently, the plasma triglyceride level declined by 50%. While the plasma cholesterol was rising, the cholesterol specific radioactivity of the plasma remained unchanged in starved animals, but in control animals the plasma cholesterol specific radioactivity declined substantially. The cholesterol content of the liver and adipose tissue increased with starvation. The cholesterol specific radioactivities relative to plasma for adipose tissue were lower in the starved animals versus controls. These results support the hypothesis that cholesterol stored in the lipid droplet of the adipose tissue cell is released into plasma and is the chief source of the hypercholesterolemia observed during complete caloric starvation. Cholesterol metabolism in the starved animal can be depicted as a virtually closed system in both the input from biosynthesis and diet being low or zero and the output likewise being close to zero.