Hydrogen exchange and double bond formation in cholesterol biosynthesis

Abstract

The conversion of lanosterol║to cholesterol requires a considerable number of intermediary steps involving loss or uptake of hydrogen atoms and formation and migration of nuclear double bonds. Detailed discussions on the intermediary steps in cholesterol biosynthesis are reported in several reviews (Olson 1965; Frantz & Schroepfer 1967; Goad 1970). In the present report some mechanisms in the formation of cholesterol and its sterol precursors from lanosterol are discussed. The relation between in vitro and in vivo pathways of cholesterol biosynthesis and the composition and metabolism of sterols in biological tissues is underlined.