Antihypercholesterolemic activity of .BETA.-sitostanol in rabbits.

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Abstract
The antihypercholesterolemic activity of .beta.-sitosterol and .beta.-sitostanol was compared in male rabbits given a cholesterol-supplemented diet. .beta.-Sitosterol and .beta.-sitostanol were fed to these rabbits at the 0.5% level with cholesterol (0.5 and 0.2% in experiments 1 and 2, respectively). The serum cholesterol level tended to be lower in rabbits fed .beta.-sitostanol than in the animals fed .beta.-sitosterol even in experiment 1. The .beta.-sitostanol exhibited a significantly greater hypocholesterolemic activity in experiment 2, LDL-cholesterol being decreased markedly. The liver cholesterol decreased in both groups of rabbits to a similar extent. .beta.-Sitostanol prevented more effectively the formation of dietary cholesterol-induced atheroma in the abdominal aorta than .beta.-sitosterol. It is most likely, together with the data reported previously on rats, that the hypocholesterolemic activity of .beta.-sitostanol results from the significantly greater inhibitory effect on the intestinal absorption of cholesterol than that of .beta.-sitosterol.

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