Cholesterol formation reaction

This cholesterol formation reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. One means to stop or reduce the production of cholesterol is to interfere with the supply of mevalonate. This is the function of Lipitor, which acts as an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase. 

Both Bu3SnH and (Me3Si)3SiH are able to defunctionalize alkyl iodides or bromides but not alcohols. On the other hand, in the so-called Barton-McCombie reaction they can defunctionalize certain alcohol derivatives, namely, ones that contain a C=S double bond (e.g., thiocarboxylic esters or thiocarbonic esters). Figure 1.32 shows how the OH group of cholesterol can be removed by means of a Barton-McCombie reaction. The C=S-containing alcohol derivative used there is a xanthate (for the mechanism of the formation reaction of xanthates, see Figure 7.4). 

Mechanism of action A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain how probucoi lowers serum cholesterol, but its mechanism of action remains uncertain. Recently it has been found that probucoi inhibits the oxidation of cholesterol, resulting in the ingestion of the oxidized cholesterol-laden LDLs by macrophages (Figure 21.7). Loaded with cholesterol, these macrophages become foam cells that adhere to the vascular endothelium and are the basis for plaque formation. Thus prevention of the cholesterol oxidation reaction might slow the development of atherosclerosis. 

Fig. 21. (a) Rate constant for the hydrolysis on 0.1 N HCl of a cholesterol formate monolayer (50a). The incorporation into the film of a little long-chain sulfate (C22H46-SOi ) greatly accelerates the reaction. The calculated increases in reaction rate according to the Gouy (33) and Donnan equations are shown (b) For hydrolysis on 0.66 N HCl incorporation of CisH37N(CH3)+ into the film retards reaction because hydrogen ions are repelled from the surface (50a). 

Additionally, cholesterol oxidation can occur in in vivo by enzymes or by lipid peroxidation. Enzymatic formation of oxysterols can be divided into two classes (a) direct enzymatic action on cholesterol or another related sterol and (b) enzymatic activity leading to the formation of radicals, which in turn attack cholesterol. All reactions of the first type seem at present to be cytochrome P-450 dependent [16]. 

Cholesterol The end point for the cholesterol reaction can be determined by following dye formation. Additionally, the amount of oxygen consumed can be measured amperometricaHy by an oxygen-sensing electrode (see Electro analytical techniques). The H2O2 produced by cholesterol oxidase requires phenol to produce dye. 

L-Tyrosine metabohsm and catecholamine biosynthesis occur largely in the brain, central nervous tissue, and endocrine system, which have large pools of L-ascorbic acid (128). Catecholamine, a neurotransmitter, is the precursor in the formation of dopamine, which is converted to noradrenaline and adrenaline. The precise role of ascorbic acid has not been completely understood. Ascorbic acid has important biochemical functions with various hydroxylase enzymes in steroid, dmg, andhpid metabohsm. The cytochrome P-450 oxidase catalyzes the conversion of cholesterol to bUe acids and the detoxification process of aromatic dmgs and other xenobiotics, eg, carcinogens, poUutants, and pesticides, in the body (129). The effects of L-ascorbic acid on histamine metabohsm related to scurvy and anaphylactic shock have been investigated (130). Another ceUular reaction involving ascorbic acid is the conversion of folate to tetrahydrofolate. Ascorbic acid has many biochemical functions which affect the immune system of the body (131). 

Ketone body synthesis occurs only in the mitochondrial matrix. The reactions responsible for the formation of ketone bodies are shown in Figure 24.28. The first reaction—the condensation of two molecules of acetyl-CoA to form acetoacetyl-CoA—is catalyzed by thiolase, which is also known as acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase or acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase. This is the same enzyme that carries out the thiolase reaction in /3-oxidation, but here it runs in reverse. The second reaction adds another molecule of acetyl-CoA to give (i-hydroxy-(i-methyl-glutaryl-CoA, commonly abbreviated HMG-CoA. These two mitochondrial matrix reactions are analogous to the first two steps in cholesterol biosynthesis, a cytosolic process, as we shall see in Chapter 25. HMG-CoA is converted to acetoacetate and acetyl-CoA by the action of HMG-CoA lyase in a mixed aldol-Claisen ester cleavage reaction. This reaction is mechanistically similar to the reverse of the citrate synthase reaction in the TCA cycle. A membrane-bound enzyme, /3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, then can reduce acetoacetate to /3-hydroxybutyrate. 

Reaction with lipoprotein lipase results in the loss of approximately 90% of the triacylglycerol of chylomicrons and in the loss of apo C (which remrns to HDL) but not apo E, which is retained. The resulting chy-lotnicron remnant is about half the diameter of the parent chylomicron and is relatively enriched in cholesterol and cholesteryl esters because of the loss of triacylglycerol (Figure 25-3). Similar changes occur to VLDL, with the formation of VLDL remnants or IDL (intermediate-density lipoprotein) (Figure 25-4). 

As mentioned earlier, oxidation of LDL is initiated by free radical attack at the diallylic positions of unsaturated fatty acids. For example, copper- or endothelial cell-initiated LDL oxidation resulted in a large formation of monohydroxy derivatives of linoleic and arachi-donic acids at the early stage of the reaction [175], During the reaction, the amount of these products is diminished, and monohydroxy derivatives of oleic acid appeared. Thus, monohydroxy derivatives of unsaturated acids are the major products of the oxidation of human LDL. Breuer et al. [176] measured cholesterol oxidation products (oxysterols) formed during copper- or soybean lipoxygenase-initiated LDL oxidation. They identified chlolcst-5-cnc-3(3, 4a-diol, cholest-5-ene-3(3, 4(3-diol, and cholestane-3 3, 5a, 6a-triol, which are present in human atherosclerotic plaques. 

In addition, three types of lipophilic conjugates have been found in pyrethroid metabolism studies (Fig. 4). They are cholesterol ester (fenvalerate) [15], glyceride (3-PBacid, a common metabolite of several pyrethroids) [16], and bile acid conjugates (fluvalinate) [17]. It is noteworthy that one isomer out of the four chiral isomers of fenvalerate yields a cholesterol ester conjugate from its acid moiety [15]. This chiral-specific formation of the cholesterol ester has been demonstrated to be mediated by transesterification reactions of carboxylesterase(s) in microsomes, not by any of the three known biosynthetic pathways of endogenous cholesterol esters... 

Cholesterol interacts with glacial acetic acid and acetic anhydride to result into the formation of a coloured product whose absorption is measured at 630 nm and this is found to be directly proportional to the level of cholesterol present in the serum. The reaction may be expressed as follows ... 

There are a few reported cases of esterases that catalyze not only hydrolysis but also the reverse reaction of ester formation, in analogy with the global reaction described for serine peptidases (Fig. 3.4). Thus, cholesterol esterase can catalyze the esterification of oleic acid with cholesterol and, more importantly in our context, that of fatty acids with haloethanols [54], Esterification and transesterification reactions are also mediated by carboxyleste-rases, as discussed in greater detail in Sect. 7.4. 

The health impairing and toxic elfects of oxidation of lipids are due to loss of vitamins, polyenoic fatty acids, and other nutritionally essential components formation of radicals, hydroperoxides, aldehydes, epoxides, dimers, and polymers and participation of the secondary products in initiation of oxidation of proteins and in the Maillard reaction. Dilferent oxysterols have been shown in vitro and in vivo to have atherogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, angiotoxic, and cytotoxic properties, as well as the ability to inhibit cholesterol synthesis (Tai et ah, 1999 Wpsowicz, 2002). 

In Box 10.12 we saw that nature employs a Claisen reaction between two molecules of acetyl-CoA to form acetoacetyl-CoA as the first step in the biosynthesis of mevalonic acid and subsequenfiy cholesterol. This was a direct analogy for the Claisen reaction between two molecules of ethyl acetate. In fact, in nature, the formation of acetoacetyl-CoA by this particular reaction using the enolate anion from acetyl-CoA is pretty rare. 

Formation of cholesterol. Squalene, a linear isoprenoid, is cyclized, with O2 being consumed, to form lanosterol, a C30 sterol. Three methyl groups are cleaved from this in the subsequent reaction steps, to yield the end product cholesterol. Some of these reactions are catalyzed by cytochrome P450 systems (see p. 318). 

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