Studies on brain sterols in normal and pathological conditions

Abstract

Abstract Desmosterol (24‐dehydrocholesterol), a normal constituent of developing brain, rapidly disappears during the prenatal and postnatal development, according to the degree of maturation, in all species considered (chicken, mouse, rat, guinea pig, man). During brain maturation, desmosterol concentrations are sensitive to treatments with drugs interfering with sterol synthesis (Triparanol) or with nervous tissue differentiation (thyroxine and propylthiouracil). Desmosterol has been also detected in some experimental and human glial tumors, and the concentra. in the tumor may be specifically increased in the tumoral tissue by the administration of Triparanol.