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Incubation of human fecal homogenates with 4‐ 14 C‐cholesterol
Author(s) -
Wood Peter D. S.,
Hatoff David
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02531438
Subject(s) - incubation , feces , cholesterol , anaerobic exercise , chromatography , bacteria , chemistry , biochemistry , incubation period , biology , food science , microbiology and biotechnology , physiology , genetics
Fresh fecal homogenates from nine subjects consuming solid diets have been incubated for seven days at 37 C with 4‐ 14 C‐cholesterol. One series of incubations was conducted under nitrogen, another under air. The extent of bacterial modification of cholesterol to known fecal metabolites varied considerably among the subjects, as expected, but when present such bacteria were shown to be highly active in the conditions used. Production of 14 CO 2 was essentially zero in all incubations. Recovery of added 14 C from the incubated homogenates following extraction with chloroformmethanol (2∶1 v/v) and evaporation to dryness was quantitative in all cases. About 4% of the labeled cholesterol added appeared to be present in acidic components following incubation. It is concluded that in the incubation system used vigorous bacterial conversion of 4‐ 14 C‐cholesterol to metabolites known to be produced in the human intestine could occur readily, in either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. However, CO 2 or other small, relatively volatile fragments labeled with 14 C could not be detected.