Abnormal liver cholesteryl ester storage in a strain of golden hamsters. Possible model for studies on cholesterol metabolism.

Very high values of hepatic cholesteryl esters were found in a strain of golden hamsters isolated in our laboratory: 2 g/100 g in animals kept at 22 degrees C and more than 10 g/100 g in starved cold-adapted animals. The rate of incorporation of labelled mevalonate was not increased, but the esterification of the newly-synthetized cholesterol was markedly stimulated.