Desmosterol in rat central and peripheral nervous systems during normal and neoplastic growth

Desmosterol (5, 24-cholestadien-3beta-ol; delta 24-cholesterol; 24-dehydrocholesterol), an immediate precursor of brain cholesterol, increased in malignant intracranial tumors induced in rats by nitrosourea derivatives. The average increase in desmosterol was higher in intracerebral gliomas than in neurinomas of the trigeminal nerve. Similarly, desmosterol increased only slightly in developing normal trigeminal nerve compared to the high levels observed in developing cerebrum. The differences may have been partly related to the predominantly growing cell type, i.e., glial (central nervous system) or Schwann (peripheral nervous system) cells seen at the time of study.