The mechanism of the plasma cholesterol esterification reaction: Plasma fatty acid transferase

• Published in: Biochimica et biophysica acta Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 128 - 135
• Main Author: Glomset, John A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 19.11.1962
• Subjects: Cholesterol - blood; Esterification; Fatty Acids; Humans; Lipid Metabolism; OldMedline; Plasma; Transferases; BLOOD CHOLESTEROL; FATTY ACIDS; TRANSFERASES
• ISSN: 0006-3002; 1878-2434
• DOI: 10.1016/0006-3002(62)90156-7

The mechanism of cholesterol esterification in plasma incubated at 37° has been further studied. The decrease in free cholesterol during incubation is accompanied by an approximately equimolar decrease in lecithin. The initial rate of the cholesterol esterification reaction in vitro in the plasma of normal human subjects is about 110 μmoles/l plasma/h. During incubation a large proportion of the fatty acids which become esterified to cholesterol are unsaturated, resembling in distribution the fatty acids of the C-2 position of the plasma lecithin. Esterification is reversibly inhibited by p-hydroxymercuribenzoate. Taken in conjunction with previous results, the present findings support the hypothesis that cholesterol esters are formed in plasma by the action of a fatty acid transferase, that the majority of the transesterified fatty acids originate from teh C-2 position of the plasma lecithin, and that the reaction may be of considerable importance in vivo.