Sterols And Bile Acids

STEROLS AND BILE ACIDS New Comprehensive Biochemistry Volume 12 General Editors A. NEUBERGER London L.L.M. van DEENEN Urrecht ELSEVIER AMSTERDAM NEW YORK OXFORD * * Sterols and Bile Acids Editors HENRY DANIELSSON a and JAN SJOVALL Department of Pharmaceutical Biochemistiy, University of Uppsala, Uppsala (Sweden) and Department of Physiological Chemistiy, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (Sweden) a 1985 ELSEVIER Amsterdam - New York Oxford * 1985. Elsecier Science Publishers B.V (Biomedical Division) All nghts reserved. No part of ths publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system or transmtted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior writren permission of the publisher. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division). P.O. Box 1527, lo00 BM Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Special regulation for readers in the U.S.A.: This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which the photocopying of parts of this publication may be made in the U.S.A. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside of the U.S.A., should be referred to the publisher. ISBN for the series: 0-444-80303-3 ISBN for the volume: 0-444-80670-9 Published by : Fl\evier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division) P.0 Box 211 loo0 AE Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Sole distributors for the U.S.A. dnd Canada Elsevier Science Publishing Company. Inc 52 Vanderbilt Avenue Ye* York. K Y 10017 (USA) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Main entry under title. Sterols and bile acids (New comprehensive biochemistry: v. 12) Includes bibliographies and index. 1 . Sterols--1Metabolism.2. Bile acids-Metabolism. I. Danielsson. Henry. 11. Sjovall. Jan. 111. Series. [DNLM: 1. Bile Acids and Salts--metabolism. 2. Sterols --metabolism. W1 NE372F v.12 / QU 95 S8391 QD415.N48 VOI.12 574.19’2 s 1574.19’2431185-20620 /QB752.S75] ISBN 0-444-80670-9 (U.S.) Printed in The Netherlands Preface Sterols are essential components of all eukaryotic cells. Their function is structural, and by being precursors of hormones and bile acids they exert a regulatory function on metabolic processes. Cholesterol and its metabolism are of importance in human disease. Although the mechanisms are largely unknown, it can be surmised that abnormalities in the metabolism of sterols and bile acids are associated with cardiovascular disease and gallstone formation. Steroid hormones are vital for man, animals and plants. Disturbances in their production can have deleterious consequences. T h s volume of New Comprehensive Biochemistry is entitled Sterols and Bile Acids. It includes fourteen chapters written by prominent scientists in the field. The large volume of material in the field of sterols and bile acids has necessitated a limitation of the areas covered. Chapters on steroid hormones have been excluded since this field requires a volume of its own. In spite of this it has not been possible to produce a book of some few hundred pages. Efforts have been made to condense the contributions of the individual authors, but the wealth of important information is such that a further reduction in size would seriously affect the value of the chapters to the reader. It may be argued that there are important gaps in the contents of this volume. For instance, full discussions of the role of compartmentation of sterols and their metabolism, of the dynamics of cholesterol balance, etc. are lacking. We as editors take full responsibility for ths. Our only excuse is that the material contained in the volume is already at the limit of what can be acc