Blood concentration and turnover of circulating mevalonate in the rat

Abstract

A technique was developed for measuring mevalonate by gas chromatography using a mass spectrometer as a specific detector. The concentration of mevalonate in rat blood was found to be 0.02 to 0.04 μg/ml. After the intravenous injection of (1-14C) acetate to rats, the blood contained labelled material tentatively identified as mevalonate. The half-life of this material averaged 7.4 min. The data indicate that the contribution of circulating mevalonate to cholesterol synthesis in the rat could be at most about 2 percent. In cholesterol-fed rats the blood concentration of mevalonate was lower (<0.0003 μg/ml) and less radioactivity was incorporated into circulating mevalobate from labelled acetate. It is concluded that the formation of circulating mevalonate is influenced by the negative feedback induced in the liver by cholesterol feeding. Preliminary studies demonstrated that the concentration of mevalonate in human blood is about 0.01 μg/ml. © 1972.