Cholesterol turnover in patients with Schistosomal hepato-splenic disease in Egypt

ABSTRACT

A study of cholesterol turnover was carried out using intravenous injection of labelled cholesterol [4-C[14]]. The material of this study included twenty patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni; half of them with ascites, as well as ten healthy control subjects. There was a lower turnover of cholesterol in patients with schistosomal hepatic fibrosis when compared with control subjects. This difference has been demonstrated in several parameters of cholesterol turnover, namely input through the rapidly exchangeable pool A, transfer rate, and fractional, removal rate of cholesterol from pool A to pool B. Thus, we could conclude that the liver which is the main organ for cholesterol metabolism is abnormally functioning in relation to cholesterol turnover in patients with schistosomal hepato-splenic disease. This, together with malabsorption through the intestines would explain the lower level of serum cholesterol encountered in these patients