Pyripyropenes, novel inhibitors of acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase produced by Aspergillus fumigatus. I. Production, isolation, and biological properties.

Aspergillus fumigatus FO-1289, a soil isolate, was found to produce a series of novel inhibitors of acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT). Four active compounds, named pyripyropenes A, B, C and D, were isolated from the fermentation broth of the producing strain by solvent extraction, silica gel column chromatography, ODS column chromatography and preparative HPLC. Pyripyropenes A, B, C and D show very potent ACAT inhibitory activity in an enzyme assay system using rat liver microsomes with IC50 values of 58, 117, 53 and 268 nM, respectively.