The mechanism of coprosterol formation in vivo

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Abstract
The bacteriostatic action of succinylsulfathiazole on intestinal coliform bacteria was found to be concurrent with a complete inhibition of coprosterol formation. The apparent correlation between Escherichia coli and coprosterol formation is fortuitous and the available evidence makes it improbable that intestinal bacteria have any share in the process. The possibility that the fauna, and especially the protozoan population, of the intestine rather than its flora is concerned in coprosterol formation was investigated by examining the coprosterol excretion of rats treated with carbarsone (p-carbamino phenylarsonic acid). This amebicidal drug frees rats from Trichomonas muris infection and was found also completely to inhibit coprosterol formation. Exploratory expts. indicate the absence of a relationship between protozoa and coprosterol formation. The complexity of the problem is made apparent by this interference with cholesterol metabolism, shared by an antibacterial and an amebicidal drug, which seems to be unconnected with their action on either bacteria or protozoa and which remains so far unexplained.

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