Characterization of Whole Body Cholesterol Fluxes in the Mouse

Atherosclerosis is characterized by excessive cholesterol accumulation in the vessel wall. Current therapies mainly aim at decreasing influx through lowering plasma LDL-cholesterol levels. The challenge is to develop therapeutic interventions to increase efflux of excess cholesterol from the vessel wall. The pathway that mediates this efflux from vessel wall to final excretion in the feces is called reverse cholesterol transport. Recently, it has become apparent that the intestine plays an important regulatory role in this pathway. This article describes in detail a variety of experimental approaches to measure cholesterol fluxes in the hepatobiliary system as well as in the intestinal pathway. Curr. Protoc. Mouse Biol. 1:413-427 © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: mouse; fecal cholesterol excretion; biliary excretion; transintestinal cholesterol; excretion